Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son
by AceofRavens
Summary: Naruto was left behind in an insane plan made by his mother and father, and Kyuubi isn't happy about that, so she takes advantage of a serious attack and gives him a whole new lease on life with a new bloodline and a new Dojutsu. Relationship will be Naruto, Fem Haku, OC, and the third has yet to be determined...
1. Prologue: The Best Laid Plans

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately the only claim I have to anything in the realm of Naruto is my own original techniques or abilities. So yeah that isn't much at this point in time…**

Prologue: The Best Laid Plans…

October tenth was a day of celebration, of festivities, and one of mourning. Five years ago the Yondaime Hokage gave his life for the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konohagakure no Sato, in sealing away the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Everyone knew that he had sealed it away into one Uzumaki Naruto, and the majority of the villagers as well as a portion of the Shinobi despised him and did their utmost to get rid of him one way or another. It was a repeating occurrence, but most especially on the anniversary of the bijuu's defeat.

ANBU were already on top of the situation, Dog and Weasel had stopped the torture and summoned assistance. Weasel took it upon himself to deliver everyone that they had stopped to Ibiki, while Dog had rushed Naruto off to the hospital, hoping to save his sensei's son from dying. Once he had turned the young man over to one of the very few doctors who actually saw him as a child and not the Kyuubi reborn, he shunshined to the Hokage's office to report.

"Hokage-sama, this is the last straw! If Naruto survives the night, I am taking him in and training him, the Council can go to hell for all I care. Naruto is the last piece I have of my sensei, and I will be damned if I let him get hurt or have his growth stunted any longer!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he thought through everything that had happened over the past few years. "Agreed, Hatake, agreed. I do need to reveal some things to you however, and for me to do that, I need to look you in the eyes, so please remove your mask." While waiting for one of his top ANBU to comply, the old man activated the privacy seals in the office and sat back in his chair.

Waving his hand at one of the chairs in his office, Hiruzen ran his hand down his face and sighed. "Please take a seat, because this is an SS-ranked secret, and I am afraid you are NOT going to like what I have to tell you."

Sitting down heavily in the offered chair, Hatake removed the Dog mask and turned his full attention to the Hokage. "What is it that you would risk so much over to tell me Hokage-sama?"

Slowly looking up at the much younger man in front of him, Hiruzen gathered his thoughts for a moment. "Namikaze Minato, Namikaze Uzumaki Kushina, and Naruto's two triplet sisters, Natsuko and Natsumi, are still alive…"

_**At the Hospital**_

Narrowly hanging onto life and deep in a coma at the moment, Naruto was slowly succumbing to the massive amount of damage done to his malnourished body and the many different poisons that had been inflicted on him earlier.

As he slowly became more aware of what was going on again, he realized that he was in the sewers and he sighed aloud. The thing was that he had no one to turn to, as he had been living on the streets for the past year, unable to feel safe in the apartment that his Oji-san had provided for him.

After walking through the sewers for a while eventually he started hearing what seemed to be the sound of someone sobbing. He slowly started picking up speed until he entered a rather large room, where there was an area that was caged. Just beyond the bars he could vaguely see what appeared to be a young woman who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. The only thing that prevented his approach was the fact that he could see several fox tails coming out from under her skirt and fox ears on her head.

Staring at her in shock, Naruto started connecting the dots and realized that somehow he had the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of him. Slowly approaching her and watching her carefully as he did so, he worked through the issues that came to his mind. Naruto was a highly intelligent boy, contrary to the opinion of most of the villagers, he only hid his smart side due to the way the villagers had always treated him.

By the time he had reached her side he had come to a number of startling conclusions. First and foremost in his mind was the fact that the Kyuubi was indeed a girl. Second was that the Yondaime Hokage hadn't killed the Kyuubi but instead had sealed her inside of him, and that led him to believe that there was possibly more that he had been lied to about. The third thing was that with as heartbroken as the Kitsune sounded, there was a rather large possibility that she wasn't as evil as everyone believed.

Coming to a decision that would impact his life far more than even he knew at this point, Naruto crawled into her lap and did as he had seen many children and parents act. Slowly wrapping his small arms around her, he started to hug her and try to comfort her.

Miyuki slowly realized that there was someone sitting there with her, and opened her eyes to see a young boy hugging her close trying to comfort her. Red eyes met azure as she looked at him, and her eyes widened as she realized who it was that was there with her. "Naruto-sama, I'm so sorry!" was all she could seem to stutter out.

Watching as she opened her eyes, the first thing that came to his mind was that she was quite pretty, but he quickly got rid of that thought when he heard her apologize to him. "None of that Sama stuff please. I am not important enough for that, but that isn't important right now. I have questions that need answers and I'm hoping that you have some if not all the answers I am looking for."

Nodding and wiping away the tears, Miyuki sat back against the wall, still holding Naruto. "So what would you like to ask me first, Naruto?"

"Do you know why the Yondaime Hokage chose me to seal you inside of?"

_**The Hokage's Office**_

Hatake Kakashi was a person who didn't get angry easily, this was something that just about everyone knew. However at that particular moment in time he was seething in rage, most of that directed at the man in front of him, since the source of his ire was nowhere around.

"So what you're telling me Hokage-sama is that my sensei and his wife came up with this cockamamie plan to strengthen their clan's bloodlines by separating the Kyuubi no Kitsune's soul from its chakra, sealing the soul into my Otōto. Then they were going to separate the Yin and Yang chakra and seal one into each of their daughters?" Kakashi glared at the older man until he responded.

Sighing as he nodded, Hiruzen couldn't help but feel partially responsible for what had happened considering the fact that he had argued against their entire plan. "Hai that is an accurate summation of what they had planned. However, far worse is what else they had planned. They would act as if the remainder of their family had perished in the attack so that they could train their daughters to use Kyuubi's chakra as well as to train them in their clan's ways. They didn't feel the need to take their son with them because they thought that if he was trained too soon that the Kyuubi would try to corrupt him and take his body over. I argued with them for hours after they had accomplished the sealing, telling them that their plans to have the villagers see their son as a hero would never work, but unfortunately for Naruto and myself, Jiraiya and Tsunade sided with Minato and Kushina and left with them to help train their daughters."

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi growled deep in his throat. "So just when were they supposed to return and what did they plan on doing to get him to accept them as his family when they just abandoned him?"

Bowing his head in regret, Hiruzen shook his head. "They had planned on returning shortly after Naruto makes Genin, and putting him on a team with his sisters. They were supposedly going to betroth him to his two sisters as well as one or two other girls in order to preserve their bloodline and to expand their clan, and that, along with teaching him the _**Hiraishin no Jutsu**_ and the _**Rasengan,**_ were supposed to make it up to him. I cannot be held blameless in this, no matter how much I argued with them, they were stubbornly set on this course of action, and I fear for Naruto's sanity when he learns what they have done."

Standing up and beginning to pace, Kakashi thought about what he could do to help Naruto. Spinning on his heel, he looked up at the Hokage. "I have an idea, and it will be painful at first, but it is better than the alternative."

Intrigued, the elderly man looked up at Kakashi and motioned for him to continue.

"The problem with what Namikaze-san is planning is that he saw things turning out much differently than they have. I say that we act accordingly, seeing as how nothing has gone right where Naruto is concerned, and talk with him about everything as I'd rather him hear about all this now, rather than later. This way we can help him while he's still young enough to learn that not everyone is against him, and we can also keep him here instead of possibly pushing him away."

Opening his mouth to angrily retort, the Hokage paused as a thought struck him. "You intend to start training him as soon as he gets out of the hospital, don't you Kakashi?"

As the younger man nodded, Hiruzen sat back and thought about what Kakashi had just hinted at. From the examinations he had seen done on Naruto, he already had Chunin level reserves, and he was only five. Looking back up at the younger Shinobi, he opened his mouth, paused, cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. "What is your goal in doing this Kakashi?"

_**At the Hospital**_

In Naruto's mindscape the positions were reversed now. He was still sitting in Miyuki's lap, but this time he was sobbing his heart out about everything that she had told him. The fact that his parents were still alive and had practically abandoned him tore him up inside. Then there was the fact that his parents had come up with a stupid plan to train his sisters for almost ten years and then show up like nothing was wrong. To top it all off, they just wanted to use him to improve their bloodline, like he wasn't even a person to them, just something that they could use.

As Naruto was emotionally venting, his mind was speeding through possibilities when his brain stopped as he remembered something that Miyuki had mentioned in passing. Wiping his eyes as he slowly put himself back together, he looked up into her eyes. "Ne, Miyuki-chan, didn't you mention earlier that because you are a tailed demon that you regain your chakra over time, and that the bijuu were the source of all bloodlines?"

Watching as she tried to figure out where he was going with this, he waited for her to respond. "Hai, because there were faults in the sealing array that your parent's used as they were trying to avoid having to summon the Shinigami, there was an error made that allowed me to gain my chakra back. The reason for this and another very important error is because they were rushing and didn't have the time to really closely double check everything." Here she paused and squeezed Naruto close to her. "The other thing that you wanted to know is yes, I and my brothers and sisters are the origin of most if not all the bloodlines in existence. Why?"

Closing his eyes and laying his head on her chest, Naruto sighed as he thought about what he wanted to say. "Miyuki-chan, is there any way that you could not only give me a bloodline or two, but also change my body or my blood so that I am not in any way, shape or form related to them?"

Rocking him gently as she thought about it, she racked her brain thinking about the possibilities and the risks. Finally looking down at him and smiling, she brushed her hand against his cheek. "Hai there is a way, but just to let you know, there are risks associated with this procedure. The other thing you need to know is that we will need to do this soon, as this last attack is more than the healing ability I give you by being inside of you can handle."

Taking a moment to think about what she had just said his eyes widened as he realized that he was slowly dying. "I think I want to get Oji-san's opinion on this, is there any way that we can bring him in here to meet you and talk to him about this?"

Nodding her head, she winced as she thought about what he was going to need to do to make this happen. "Okay, first you are going to need to be awakened, so that you can let the Hokage know what he needs to do. It is going to hurt a lot, and you will need to focus on telling him that he will need to channel a little bit of chakra and put his fingertips on your forehead. I will do the rest from there, ok?"

Quickly agreeing with her, he braced himself for the pain as she forced him awake.

_**Hokage's Office**_

While they were discussing some of the things that they would need to accomplish, an urgent knocking sounded at his office door. Motioning to Kakashi to open the door, the Hokage quickly released the privacy seals which allowed them to open the doors. An ANBU with a Cat mask was standing at the door; anxiously waiting for them to open it, and once it was open she immediately bowed. "Hokage-sama, Naruto has awakened and even though he is in agony, begged us to come and get you. He…he said it's to do with his tenant…"

She hurried out of the way as the two occupants rushed out of the room for the hospital, both so stunned that they forgot about anything but moving as quickly as they could.

_**At the Hospital**_

Moments later, the two men were standing in Naruto's room, eyes wide in shock at the amount of pain the young man was in. Kakashi walked closer and took the boy's hand in his own and squeezed it.

Turning his head to see who was there, and seeing Kakashi and the Hokage, Naruto tried to grin and failed miserably. Looking from one to the other, he licked his lips as he struggled to talk. "Closer please…I'm dying…is still a chance…need to channel your chakra…touch my forehead…lot to discuss…please hurry."

Quickly moving closer, the started to channel a tiny bit of chakra and touched their fingers to his head while they watched him bite back a scream of agony. As soon as they made contact with his skin, everything went black momentarily…

_**Naruto's Mindscape**_

They appeared in front of a cage in his mind and they gazed about momentarily in awe, before they focused on the voices they heard in front of them. "Please Yuki-chan; please make the pain go away…"

"It's going to hurt worse before it gets better Naruto-kun, first we need to talk to the Hokage and Hatake-san." The voice they heard this time was feminine, low and melodic, which drew their attention.

Walking forward towards the cage, the scene in front of them stunned them. As soon as they could see beyond the bars, they saw a young woman with stunning red hair cradling Naruto to her. He was lying there in her lap, his little body shaking from the pain, when they noticed her ears and tails. That was when their minds had to stop and reboot.

Of the two of them, Kakashi was the first to recover. "Kyuubi…is a…girl?"

Naruto groaned and glared at him for a moment. "Her name…is Miyuki…not Kyuubi. Kyuubi is a title…"

Nodding at the young man, they both sat down right next to the cage. The Hokage gently placed his hand on Naruto's head, and smoothed down his hair trying to give him some comfort. "Naruto-kun, why did you need to talk to us?"

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Naruto opened his eyes to look at the Hokage. "I know Oji-san; I know everything about Minato-teme and Kushina-baka. Their plan, the way they abandoned me, I know everything. What I need from you is for you to listen to Miyuki, because she has a way to not only save my life, but a way to make it so that they lose any and all say or control over my life. I will be able to receive a new bloodline, which would allow me to start my own clan, right Oji-san?"

Stunned beyond all belief, the two men stood there in silence as Miyuki told them briefly about her history with Konoha and what had happened that night when she had attacked. She also told them about the Kitsune summoning contract that she would have him sign, gaining Konoha a sixth summoning contract, and also about what would need to happen in order for him to survive the night.

The two men were skeptical at first, but as they talked and discussed everything in depth they soon came to see that this seemed to be the only way to help Naruto out.

Thinking about everything that they had talked about, the Hokage leaned back against the bars of the cage. Turning his head to look at the Kitsune, he realized that there were a couple of other matters that they needed to discuss. "Miyuki, I only have a couple more questions for you, the first is will he be able to choose his bloodline or will it be something totally at random? Secondly have the two of you discussed any names since I am quite sure that Naruto would prefer to distance himself as much as possible from them."

Taking a moment to think about her answer very carefully, Miyuki sighed and shook her head to clear it. "There is only so much manipulating I can do. Given that his chakra affinities are Wind, Water, and Fire in that order, I can tweak his affinities to give him a Hyouton Kekkei Genkai using his wind and water affinities, a Futton Kekkei Genkai using his water and fire affinities, or even a Shakuton Kekkei Genkai using his wind and fire affinities. The only definite abilities that will be included are a remarkably fast healing ability combined with an extended lifespan and slowed aging, as well as enlarged chakra reserves and a new Dojutsu."

Both of the men there stared at her in shock, though Kakashi recovered faster. "That more than anything will get the Council's favor quicker than anything though will it be a single stage like the Byakugan or an evolving one like the Sharingan?"

Smirking at their stunned faces, she chuckled lightly. "It will be a single stage like the Byakugan, with two lesser abilities and one major. The first is that it will be able to cast some rather difficult to dispel genjutsu on a target, which is a huge plus for anyone like Naruto whose large reserves generally prevent the usage of genjutsu. The second is the ability to target an enemy, and attack them with either thrown weapons or ninjutsu and have them locked onto the target. What this means is if the target creates bunshin or they _**kawarimi**_ with something or someone the attack will follow them because it will lock onto their chakra signature."

Both men whistled as they thought of the possibilities, when Hiruzen realized something. "You said that there were two lesser and one major, and only described the two lesser abilities. Would it be too much trouble to ask about the final ability of his Dojutsu?"

She smiled as she saw the grimace cross Kakashi's face. "I will give you the general over view of this last ability. It is a bloodline key, meaning it can be used to unlock someone's bloodline ability, or seal it away either temporarily or permanently."

Gasps were ripped from the throats of both men, as they began to fully realize the full scope of this new Kekkei Genkai. "This is an amazing opportunity for you Naruto, have you decided on a new name and surname for yourself and your new clan?"

Naruto simply looked to the old man and gave him a small smile. After tonight my name will be known as Sōjin Ikari and our Kekkei Genkai will be known as the Seigi no Namida, or the Tears of Justice." Pausing here he turned to look at Miyuki, and tilted his head a little. "Ne, Yuki-chan can you make my eyes a different color, like green? And make it so that when my dojutsu is active the only thing that changes is the shape of my pupil?"

At this point he was picturing it in his mind's eye, hoping that she would pick up on it. As he gazed up at her he watched as she giggled slightly and nodded at him. "Can do Naru-kun, but since we have agreed to get this done; I must ask a favor of both of you. I would like for you to push him in his training, which should start once I fix his body and he is out of the hospital. The biggest upset that I can think for those two is for them to come back and he is already a Jonin or in ANBU. Think you can make it happen in the next seven years?"

The two older men looked at each other, smiled and turned back to Miyuki. "Most definitely, Miyuki-san. Ikari-kun, you will be working yourself into the ground if you want this to happen, understand?"

Nodding he carefully stood and then walked towards the two men. Walking back through the bars Ikari hugged each of the men for a moment thanking them profusely and asking them to thank Weasel and Cat for helping him as well. Turning back to walk into the cage, he stopped and tilted his head back to look at Sarutobi. "Oji-san, we will give you approximately five minutes to setup the chakra containment seals you will need to ensure that no one outside of this room will feel the procedure. Will that be long enough?"

Thinking about it for a moment, he nodded to them. Bowing to Miyuki he smiled as he rose. "Please take care of him, he is precious to me and I have much to atone for where he is concerned."

Simply smiling at him in turn, she nodded once and then ejected them from his mindscape. She then turned to her container. "Okay Ikari-kun, I need you to prepare yourself because as much as I might wish it otherwise, this is going to hurt you. What needs to happen is that you're going to rip as close to a third of the seal off as is possible for you. This will allow enough of my chakra and intent out to repair the damage done to your body as well as overwrite your current bloodline. This will also have the side benefit of making it a dominant male trait, meaning that any children that you or any male descendants have will have your bloodline over any other bloodline ability that marries into your clan."

Nodding as he walked over to her, he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm a little nervous, and worried Yuki-chan. You promise that I'll be ok?"

Wrapping her arms around the little one, she squeezed him gently as she laid her cheek against his hair. "I promise that not only will you be ok, but that all the pain you are going through will be worth it." Pulling him away from her for a moment, she smiled down at him, and motioned towards the seal on the bars. "It's time Ikari-kun, please be careful and pull at it from this side so that I can catch you, ok?"

Taking a deep breath, he nodded at her and turned to walk towards the seal. He ripped off almost the perfect amount of the seal and turned towards Miyuki right before he passed out as at that exact moment in time all he knew was pain.

_**Three Days Later**_

His eyes fluttered open as he woke, and he struggled to recall where he was and what had happened. As everything finally came back to him, his eyes shot wide open and he quickly shut them and went into his mindscape.

As soon as he showed up there, he raced back to the room he wanted and stopped just in front of the cage. Frowning as he looked at it, he closed his eyes and willed the room to change to match his imagination. Shortly afterward he opened his eyes and smiled widely as he took in the scene in front of him.

Centered against the far wall of the bedroom was a king sized bed with crimson silk sheets on it. The door on the left wall lead to a rather spacious bath and onsen, while the door on the right wall lead to a kitchen and small living area. He stuck his head out the front door and there was a small clearing next to a lake, with a forest that seemed to stretch for miles.

Smiling brightly, Ikari walked back to the bedroom and sat down next to Miyuki. Gently shaking her shoulder, he woke her up and sat back a bit as she snapped upright and looked around blinking in a confused manner. As he took in her state of confusion, he noticed that she had on a leather choker with the kanji for seal engraved on it. "Ne, Yuki-chan what do you think of my new and improved mindscape?"

Staring up at him she squealed and glomped onto him. "Ikari-kun this is amazing! I have to say though, have you looked in the mirror since you woke up? You look totally different…"

Hearing that he tore out of the room and into the bathroom, where he stood there stunned for a few minutes. He was a little over four feet tall now, and definitely looking healthier. His hair was straight and smooth, unlike before, and it was black with some red highlights. The eyes were no longer the cobalt blue that they were before, but were a deep and vivid emerald green. The biggest change though was his face as it was more rounded than before, and his whisker marks were far less pronounced.

Following along behind him, Miyuki had watched as he took in all the changes to his body. Smiling ever so slightly, she walked up behind him and gently embraced him from behind. "You like what I did?"

Nodding rapidly was the only response she got since he was rather speechless at this point in time. "I think you'll like what I did as far as your bloodline abilities as well Ikari-kun. You now have both the Hyouton as well as the Shakuton Kekkei Genkai, and when you channel chakra to your eyes, your pupils will change to a silver cross shape."

In the next instant she was nearly bowled over by the young boy as he had whirled around and thrown his arms around her. She merely held him as he sobbed tears of joy, it was cruel beyond measure what his parents had done to him, and he finally had the love and care that he should have had from the very beginning.

A few minutes later he stepped back and smiled at her, while wiping his tears away. "Thank you so much for everything you have done for me, I just wanted to know if…if I could call you kaa-san…"

Shocked beyond belief at what he had just asked, she simply nodded and slowly started smiling. "If you want to you can call me your kaa-san. Can I ask why though?"

Cocking his head to one side he gave her a small foxy grin. "Because of you I have been reborn; I have been given opportunities that I never would have otherwise. Then there's the fact that you have always been there for me, healing me and taking care of my like a mother would."

Wrapping her arms around him, she smiled and closed her eyes. "I promise you that you will never be alone again. Now there is one more thing we need to accomplish before you wake up from here, and that is getting you signed up as the Summoner for the Kitsune clan."

Shifting her body so that he could watch what she was doing, she slowly ran through the hand seals that were required for any summoning and explained all this to Ikari. Once the contract had appeared, she instructed him to bite his thumb and place his handprint on the scroll along with his name signed in blood.

They both watched as the scroll disappeared and then walked outside. "I will help you in whatever way that I can, most of it will be when I feel you're ready to actively use your dojutsu though. Although I will say that you can show them what it looks like when they ask you. One thing you must never do though is use your eye's abilities against someone who has a larger chakra reserve than you do, as it will literally backfire on you. It will only be a temporary effect, but it will happen." She looked at him seriously while waiting for his response, which was a rather rapidly given nod of affirmation.

Grabbing him into one last hug, Miyuki squeezed him one last time and then held him at arm's length. "Go ahead and go, Ikari. Both of them are out there waiting for you to wake up." He simply nodded at her and focused on leaving the mindscape, smiling gently at her as he disappeared.

_**Back In the Hospital Room**_

Yawning slightly as he opened his eyes he slowly sat up and stretched, smiling up at the four people who stood around his bed. "Oji-san, Weasel-san, Dog-san, Cat-san good morning...it _is_ morning right?"

Slipping around to hug him, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled as he nodded at the young boy. "Hai, it is morning Ikari-kun. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Great Oji-san, now if I could just get out of here I would be almost perfect!"

Gentle laughter greeted him as he spoke, causing him to smile brightly up at everyone. "Ne, Oji-san would you like to see my new dojutsu?"

Two gasps broke the silence that followed. The Hokage glared at the two who had made noise and cleared his throat. "I expect you to keep silent on this you two. The Kyuubi confirmed for us that the Bijuu are the source of a great many bloodlines, if not all of them, and because of the way he was injured several nights ago, the Kyuubi no Kitsune was gracious enough to give him a new bloodline including a never before seen dojutsu."

He paused here and smirking slightly, chuckled at the look of surprise on Ikari's face. "It's already active? I thought it would be some time before it could be activated?"

Shaking his head at the older man, he smirked back at him. "Nope, apparently the dojutsu will be activated when our ability to use chakra is unlocked. Take a peek if you want." Here he closed his eyes for a moment to focus a bit of his chakra to his eyes, and as he opened them back up he looked at each of them in the room and chuckled mentally at the looks in their eyes.

All four of the other's in the room were shocked beyond belief at the sight in front of them. His once blue eyes were a brilliant and piercing green, and with his dojutsu active, his once round black pupil changed into a brilliant silver Maltese-style cross.

Glaring with it active, he sat up straight in the bed. "From this day forward, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto is dead. I have been reborn as Sōjin Ikari, and my clan's abilities and Kekkei Genkai are to be held a secret until the Hokage and I deem it time to reveal _some_ but not all of the abilities."

Hiruzen chuckled softly as he nodded in agreement. "Well said Ikari-kun, very well said. I can foresee you becoming a very capable clan head and leader in the future. Gather around and I will explain what I'm allowed to about what could become one of the most powerful clans and bloodlines here in Konoha…"

**A/N: I really like the way this one is starting off, and just a heads up he will end up activating the CRA. The one solid girl I have in mind for him is Haku, and I am currently tossing around ideas for a second and third, like maybe Tenten or an OC that I come up with off the top of my head. This will be it for him as this will not get too crazy with having a crap ton of women!**


	2. Chapter 1: Testing, First Assignments

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

Chapter 1: Testing, First Assignments, and Surprises

_**Three Years Later, Training Field Seven**_

He was exhausted. All of his teachers were there along with the members of the Shinobi Council, as well as the current ANBU Commander, and they were currently judging his abilities and whether he was worthy of the Leaf hitai-ate.

Thinking back over the last three years made him smile, as he recalled all the good times that they had shared and all that they had taught him as well as everything he had learned on his own. The first year had been brutal, as they had pushed him to the extreme, just in getting his body conditioned as well as getting his chakra control to where it needed to be.

_***FLASHBACK BEGINS***_

Gai-sensei was in a league of his own when it came to conditioning his body, especially when it came to learning taijutsu. He had spent most of that first year constantly adjusting his chakra weights, since having Miyuki sealed inside of him, as well as having a nearly inhuman healing rate to boot, meant that his muscles and bones were healing up overnight. Once the green-clad man had learned this he was ecstatic and gave him full-body workouts every other day. On the days they weren't working out, Ikari was learning the stances and moves of the _**Goken**_, or Strong Fist taijutsu style. The biggest reason behind him learning this was because Miyuki had insisted that the moves were quite similar to the _**Genso no ken**_, or Fist of the Elements Style.

His second year with Gai-sensei was quite similar to the first with two major differences. The first was that his chakra weights had had the limiters reduced, meaning he was working out with far more weight added than before. The other was that he was beginning to learn the differences between the two stances, and training in the _**Genso no ken**_. He wasn't allowed to add in any of his elemental natures, as both his sensei had wanted him to get the moves of his chosen style nearly flawless before adding anything to it. By the time he was finished with this year of training in taijutsu, he was wearing 500 lbs. of weights, which was absolutely stellar for a boy of his age.

By the time his third year began, Gai-sensei and Miyuki had determined that he was ready for the next step and had begun an extreme regimen as far as his taijutsu style was concerned. The first four months had been learning to add his water nature chakra to his body while sparring. They quickly learned that his natural grace and agility while fighting increased exponentially when utilizing this type of chakra. The other thing that they noticed is that his hits were as hard and unforgiving as a tsunami when he was attacking, or as gentle and deceptive as a stream when he was dodging or re-directing his opponent's strikes.

The next four months were devoted to learning how to channel the fire nature chakra, and they quickly realized that his form while using this part of his chakra that his moves were an all-out offense. Also was that his aggressive side became more focused and intense, just like a fire; in fact Gai-sensei mentioned in passing that 'this part of the style reflected the fires of his soul'.

The last four months were spent in learning the most difficult part of his style; learning how to harness the power of his wind nature chakra. They spent almost the entire first two months figuring out how to channel it, and once they did they rapidly figured out that he was going to be absolutely lethal once he had managed to mix his chakra natures in this taijutsu style. When he was channeling wind chakra through his body, his speed increased quite a bit, and depending on how he held his hands he could hit with the blunt force of a hurricane, or the gentle yet sharp force of a scalpel.

Then there was Yuugao-sensei who trained him in kenjutsu. They spent the first day alone trying to find him the right weapon or weapons, and finally decided on a pair of chakra-conducting kodachi. The first year was spent entirely on learning how to go through the katas of his stance, _**Kitsunetēru no odori**_ or the Dance of the Fox Tails. Fortunately for Ikari, the purple haired kunoichi had a photographic memory, which was quite useful in learning the katas, stances and attacks of this sword style, seeing as how she had to enter his mindscape to learn it directly from Miyuki.

They then spent that first year learning the basics of his style, going over them over and over again, to ensure that he had them committed to his muscle memory. From there they moved onto sparring with weighted wooden rods, which was quite enjoyable for the both of them. By the time the first year had passed, she had judged him ready to move onto the next step.

The second year was all about ensuring that he was ready to start wielding his blades, and thus they moved on to weighted metal rods that were twice the weight of the wooden ones. After six months of this they had started teaching him the proper way to care for his blades as they started to incorporate them more and more into his training and even into sparring.

The third year was spent exclusively in training him how to channel his chakra into the blades. They followed a similar training schedule as Gai-sensei did, starting with water, then moving onto fire and ending with wind. By the time they were done with this third year of training, Yuugao-sensei had taught him everything she knew, and told him that he needed to continue to train and get experience, and to keep expanding on the training that he was already doing.

His Oji-san got in on the training as well, in that first year was teaching him manners, the clan laws of Konoha, as well as teaching him how to write more neatly as a precursor to teaching him the art of fuinjutsu. The old man was quite apt in his manner of teaching, and by the time he was finished with the first year of training with the Hokage, he was well on his way to becoming a fuinjutsu adept.

The second year continued on much like the first, only they added the other laws of Konoha, as well as getting into politics and diplomacy. It was at this point in time that they brought Hyuuga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku in on the secret and they began to share their experience with the young boy as well. It was at the end of this second year of training that Ikari was attested in his fuinjutsu skills, and was rated somewhere above the level of an adept in his ability to understand, create and even modify seals.

The third year was much tougher as they only added more material on top of what he was already being trained in. Against his better judgment, the Hokage had him involved in the Uchiha incident. The way he had thought of to resolve it was nothing short of remarkable, as he had managed to get rid of the problem and was able to keep one of his sensei from having to become a nuke-nin.

The way he had come up with was that since one of the clans was about rise up in an attempt to overthrow the Hokage, that they apply one of the older laws that was still applicable in this situation. Since they had an inside person to give them the details, they had the ANBU go in and crash one of the clan meetings. Once inside they were able to incapacitate all those who were guilty, and brought them to Moreno Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi to interrogate and prove their guilt without a shadow of a doubt. Once they had separated the innocent from the truly guilty, they then held their trials and executions in public.

Other than that whole mess, the third year moved along much like the previous two, with him becoming more like the clan head he would need to be. This was the year where they added the history of the clans as well as the history of Konoha on top of refining his abilities in fuinjutsu. When they tested him at the end of the year, they were amazed to see his abilities were somewhere around the level of a master. The seals and the way they just seemed to flow from his brush were almost on par with his abilities in genjutsu, just simply beyond belief. What they didn't know however, was that the reason why his abilities in fuinjutsu were growing so remarkably was due to his use of the _**Kage Bunshin no jutsu**_, or the Shadow Clone technique. Every night before he went to sleep he created as many clones as possible just to work on his chakra control and fuinjutsu abilities.

The first year he had been making 150 clones each night, putting fifty of them to work on various methods of chakra control, another fifty on practicing the strokes he would need to be able to actually write the seals, and the final fifty would read up on various seals and sealing methods. In the hours before he would wake up he would have them dispel in groups of twenty five in ten minute intervals so that he didn't end up getting hurt as he filed away what they had accomplished and learned from their experience.

The second year he had bumped it up to 300 clones, and divided them into four sections: a fourth of them would be reading up on the creation and usage of seal tags of all kinds. Another quarter of them would be taking the time to learn how to create and modify jutsu, with another fourth experimenting with different types of seal tags, and the final quarter working hard on chakra control as well as his abilities with his dojutsu.

The third year he had doubled the number of clones yet again, only this time he divided the work load differently. He sent 100 clones to work on his chakra control, another 100 to read up on the next level of seal creation and modification, the third group of 100 clones he had experimenting with the Hyouton bloodline, the fourth group was doing the same with his Shakuton bloodline, and the fifth group was busy learning how to master the jutsu he already knew. The sixth and final group was divided into two parts: fifty clones that were practicing the fuinjutsu that he already knew and the remaining fifty were working on refining his control of his abilities with his dojutsu.

It was only because of his massive chakra reserves that he was able to utilize this unique way of training. The training he was able to conduct in this manner gave him many years-worth of training in a very short amount of time.

The last two trainers he had worked together with him and the areas that they worked on with him were the arts of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the use of his dojutsu. It went without saying that Itachi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were the two most suited for these three areas of training and they consistently overlapped in their training in these arts.

The first year they mostly worked on the basics, with Itachi helping him to train his dojutsu so that he wasn't using so much chakra in activating it. They drilled over and over again in his usage of the Seigi no Namida, so that when he chose to activate it, it only took a fraction of a second to activate and use, and he used a very meager portion of his chakra to do so. Meanwhile Kakashi-sensei was training him in the use of hand seals, and often had Ikari doing speed drills with them so that he could maximize the number of jutsu he could use in any given situation as well as ensuring that he was confident enough with them to be able to focus on the amount of chakra he was molding instead of having to be concerned over whether he was able to make the hand seals correctly.

The second year was much the same, only Itachi had decided to focus solely on genjutsu and dojutsu training. This year was spent learning about the different types and ranks of genjutsu as well as casting them on him to ensure that he understood how they worked. The only down side to this method of teaching was the fact that there was apparently a defense mechanism built into his dojutsu that detected when a genjutsu had been cast on him and automatically allowed him to either spike or cycle his chakra to dispel it. They ended up having to have Ikari form the genjutsu over Itachi instead and once it had been dispelled he was graded on how well he had done.

On the other hand, Kakashi had been having a much easier time of training the boy in ninjutsu as he was a very quick learner when it came to hands on training. The academy's three jutsu were learned in a day, and he quickly set out to learn as much as he could in making the greatest use of the ninjutsu he learned. The first three elemental jutsu that he learned were all D-rank and they were: _**Suiton: Mizu-dan**_, _**Katon: Hinotama**_, and _**Fuuton: Kaze dangan**_. By the time the year was done he could honestly say that he had learned a lot from Kakashi-sensei as he had learned how to moderate the amount of chakra he poured through the seals and could charge the first three jutsu that he had learned with enough chakra to take them from D-rank to high C-rank in both range and damage.

Year three was by far the most interesting training for the boy, as he truly exploded in his capabilities with his dojutsu and genjutsu. Itachi was extremely grateful for what he had done for his clan as well as for the village, so grateful in fact, that he had spoken with the Hokage about arranging a betrothal between Ikari and one of the young girls in his clan. They debated it fiercely for a few months before deciding that they would allow the young clan head a choice in whether it went through or not.

By the end of the year, Ikari knew at least two genjutsu each of D-rank, C-rank, B-rank and A-rank. He could cast them quickly and was able to layer four genjutsu on a target as soon as he made eye contact. The best thing is that it always took two separate methods to break out of his genjutsu as long as they were cast with his dojutsu.

The time that he had spent with Kakashi-sensei had paid off dividends in his abilities in combat. The third year had been when he had learned about collaboration jutsu, like water and lightning or wind and fire. The fact that he was able to create a few B and C rank jutsu for his affinities as well as his two bloodline abilities was nothing short of spectacular.

_***FLASHBACK ENDS***_

Wincing as he stretched out his sore and aching muscles, the eight year old boy took a few more minutes to stretch his body out as it had been quite the rigorous workout. He had started at eight this morning with the spar from hell with Gai-sensei, then after a twenty minute break, he had matched swords with Yuugao-sensei. By that time it had already gotten close to lunchtime, and so they had stopped there and eaten before continuing on. Immediately following lunch had been Itachi who had had to make a couple of clones for him to test his dojutsu and genjutsu on. The one who had really put him through the ringer though had been his Aniki, Kakashi-sensei. That had been an hour long spar from the very lowest depths of hell, and the only reason he hadn't won had been because of his lack of experience.

Finally he shook his head and stood tall, as he had nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of at this point in time. Walking forward to where everyone was gathered around the Hokage, where he waited until they were done talking and he had their attention. Bowing low to the Hokage, he held it for a moment and then stood slowly. "I trust that my abilities are sufficient for me to wear the hitai-ate of the Leaf and bear it with pride, Hokage-sama?"

With a twinkle in his eye, he nodded and motioned for everyone there to take a seat. Smiling in gratitude to the old man, Ikari carefully sat en seiza across from the Shinobi Council. Directing his gaze to the Hokage, he waited patiently for the eldest ninja of the village to speak.

"Ikari-kun, it is indeed a pleasure to see how far you have come, and to get an idea for just how far you will go. I would like to take this time to get a feel for what your full capabilities are, and thus will turn the floor over for any questions from the Council to either you or your teachers."

Hiruzen then turned and looked to his left and then to his right and nodded. The first person to speak was Hyuuga Hiashi. "Sōjin-san, the dojutsu that you have what exactly are its capabilities?"

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he quietly responded. "Hyuuga-sama, the Seigi no Namida enables me to layer multiple genjutsu on any target with just a glance, and they require two or more different methods or attempts to dispel dependent on the strength of the person they were cast on. Once activated they allow me to know almost instantly whether I have been subjected to genjutsu or if someone is currently attempting to attack me by using one against me, they also allow me to target someone by attaching an ultra-thin chakra string on mental command so that my jutsu will track them if they attempt to dodge or _**kawarimi**_ out of the way."

Pausing for a moment, he cleared his throat and continued. "The ultimate ability of my dojutsu is the ability to sense if someone I am looking at has a Kekkei Genkai, and either unlock it, if they haven't already unlocked their ability, or to lock it away either temporarily or permanently. There is a weakness or two, but those shall remain as they are, known only to me. No disrespect intended Hyuuga-sama."

Nodding at his answer, Hiashi sat back and pondered on what he had been told. The next person to speak was Nara Shikaku. "Hatake-san, in your honest opinion based on what you and your fellow Nin have observed over the last three years, where would you rate his abilities?"

Taking a step forward and placing his hands directly on Ikari's shoulders, he carefully squeezed them briefly before responding. "In all honesty Shikaku I can only rate him on what I have seen, so there will need to be an answer on part of his training from the Hokage as well. I will give you a rundown on what we do know about his skills and abilities. Sōjin Ikari is a close to mid-range fighter, who excels at kenjutsu and genjutsu. I would rate his taijutsu at high Chunin, his kenjutsu at high Jonin, and his genjutsu at high Jonin to low ANBU level. His ninjutsu I would have to say is definitely at high Jonin especially since a number of his attacks that he used earlier today were created by him, since we have very few if any jutsu that have ever been used by either Hyouton or Shakuton bloodline bearers."

Here he paused and gathered his thoughts once more before continuing. "His capacity for stealth is definitely at ANBU level, his chakra control is also at ANBU level, and he currently has solid Jonin level reserves. I will defer to the Hokage's judgment in announcing the rest of his abilities."

All eyes turned to the Hokage who took a deep drag from his pipe before responding. "Due to the fact that our only fuinjutsu masters are currently away, I have been personally instructing young Ikari-kun in the art. A lot of where he has learned has been in self-study from scrolls and other writings and I would rate him somewhere above an adept in level. That is the best assessment I can offer at this time due to the fact that he has surpassed me in the creation and modification of seals a while ago."

Ikari remained calm on the outside but he was bouncing around like a little kid on the inside at his Oji-san and Aniki's answers to the question. Glancing around at the gathered clan heads as well as the ANBU Commander he sighed mentally as he waited for any more questions.

They all appeared to be discussing the answers for a minute or two before Yamanaka Inoichi cleared his throat. "In your own words what rank would you see him attaining today, and I would like for each of you to answer for yourselves."

Gai-sensei immediately leapt forward and bowed. "Honored Council members, I feel that our most youthful student is most deserving of the rank of Chunin, at least until he has more experience under his belt. I personally feel that it would be a grave mistake to just make him a Genin when he is fully capable of the most youthful teamwork I have seen in anyone in a long time." Here he bowed once more and stepped back.

The next person to step forward was Yuugao-sensei. "I would agree with Gai-san in his assessment. Ikari-kun not only has the drive to improve himself, but to help others around him to improve and grow as well. I have learned a great deal from him in the last three years, almost as much as I have taught him, and I feel that he should receive the rank of Chunin."

As she took a step back Itachi-sensei stepped forward. "I concur with my comrades previous statements. I feel that he not only has the ability but the mentality to handle the rank. I would ask that he be assigned to a team that is shy a person, so that way he can gain the experience he needs to grow and progress." Once he was done he took a step back and Kakashi cleared his throat.

"I would make the same recommendation but with the option to be picked up by the ANBU once he has been blooded." Here he paused as he felt Ikari's gulp through his hands and he squeezed his shoulders gently once more before continuing.

"His character is without reproach especially considering how ill-treated he was before we took over raising and training him three years ago. He is loyal, hard-working, and has a 'do-or-die' mentality that will see to having both the mission accomplished as well as his entire team returning with him one way or another." Kakashi stopped there and stepped back amongst his other comrades.

The ANBU Commander tilted his head in acknowledgement and acceptance of his statement, and then looked to the Hokage and nodded in response. Tilting his head forward for a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen hid the tears of pride as he blinked them away. The fact that Ikari had come so far in such a short amount of time meant a lot to him. Looking back up at Ikari, he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Having heard the assessment today, I must say that I am very proud of you Ikari-kun. You have persevered when many others would have given up. You have struggled and fought your way through a training regimen that many your age or even a little older than you would consider insane, and you not only passed your final exam, you have completely obliterated any and all expectations that there could have been for you. Now if there are no objections," he paused here for a moment, and looked at each face there only to see approval. "It is my pleasure to congratulate you and say that you have earned this. Rise and accept your hitai-ate and vest, Chunin Sōjin."

Blinking back tears of gratitude, he bowed low to the ground before rising to his feet and shakily moving forward to pick up the items that the Hokage had set in front of him. Throwing the vest on, and then wrapping the headband around his right bicep and tying it off, he the returned to where he had been sitting and stood there, turning to face the Council once more.

Smiling broadly at the young boy before him, Sarutobi stood and looked around at everyone there before speaking up once more. "It has been more years than I can remember since we have seen the establishment of a new clan. I have received a request from Uchiha Itachi, the current head of the Uchiha clan for the creation of the Sōjin clan, with himself as a sponsor. According to the laws of Konoha, the only people who have any say in the creation or addition of a new clan are the Hokage as well as the other clan heads."

Turning to Ikari, he smiled once more. "Ikari-kun, if this request is accepted and passes, until you turn sixteen or become a Jonin you will need to have someone who will represent your clan in Council meetings. Do you have anyone in mind that would be able to do this for you?"

Getting a nod from the young man in question, Hiruzen turned his attention once more to the Council members in front of him. "Anyone have any reason why this request cannot be accepted? Aside from the fact that there is only the one member for now, that is."

Seeing that no one there seemed to have any objections, he smirked as he turned back to face Ikari. "Chunin Sōjin, upon unanimous decision of the Council, you and your family are now a clan of Konoha. Seeing as there is only yourself and no one else, we will need to initiate the Clan Restoration Act. You will need to find a minimum of three women and be married by your sixteenth birthday to at least one of them. Is that understood?"

Grumbling mentally about this, Ikari nodded. "Hai Hokage-sama, I do have one question though. It is acceptable that I have the final say in the matter of my marriages, and that they are not to be forced or coerced is that correct?"

Getting a nod and a soft smile in response, he sighed in relief. Taking a deep breath, he turned and faced his teachers. "Yuugao-sensei, Onēsan, would you do me the honor of accepting the role of being my clan's representative on the Council until I either come of age or achieve the desired rank?"

Stunned beyond belief, it took her a moment to respond. Smiling at her honorary Otōto, she nodded to him. "Hai, Otōto, it would be an honor to assist you. I appreciate your trust in me, and will never give you cause to doubt me."

Turning back to the council he smiled and bowed. "Thank you for supporting me in this, I am eternally grateful to my teachers as well as each of you for all that you have done for me. I await your orders Hokage-sama."

Looking through the papers in front of him, he shuffled through them looking for the right one. Finding it, he cleared his throat before reading from the sheet. "Chunin Sōjin, you are to report to your team's training ground, which is Training Field 18, in the morning at eight a.m. Your new team is Chunin Inuzuka Hitomi, Chunin Aburame Takehito and Jonin sensei Yasumasa Hibara. Any questions?"

Shaking his head, Ikari smiled internally. Things had been going great for him and he was finally starting to reach some of his goals. Blinking as he looked around at everyone standing there, he was a little surprised at seeing Itachi-sensei approach him. "Sōjin-san, it is an honor to have helped you to get here, having achieved two of your dreams this day. I have with me a request, which will help both you and a member of my clan. I would ask that you hear me out and think about it before responding if you would." A single nod of Ikari's head was his response.

Pulling out a scroll from one of his pouches, Itachi handed it to the boy. "In here is a betrothal agreement between the Uchiha and Sōjin clans. All it needs is both of our signatures as well as your designated clan representative. I know how you feel about arranged marriages Ikari-kun, but I ask that you give her a chance and see where things go. You will have until your fifteenth birthday to choose whether to finalize said contract once it has been signed, and the only requirement that there is that the both of you spend time together and get to know each other."

Deep in thought at the moment, Ikari gently weighed the scroll in his hand. Unlike his former family, Itachi was giving him a choice in the matter, which was a huge plus for him. Also there was the fact that he had absolutely no respect for the Namikaze or Uzumaki clan heads, but he had quite a bit for Itachi, which also weighed heavily in favor of him accepting the contract. Removing the binding around it, he quickly scanned the document to see if there was a name listed, and was stunned by the name he found there. Looking up at Itachi, he nodded at the man.

"I must admit to being a little stunned at name listed here to be perfectly honest. Setsuki-san was one of the only children I know that would play with me before my change. Is she aware of anything to do with me?"

Shaking his head at the youth's question Itachi mentally sighed with relief as it seemed that he was leaning towards accepting the contract which would be largely beneficial to her since her only remaining relative was an older brother who had been an eager participant in the attempted coup, and had been executed with the rest of the traitors. This would give her a fresh start, and would bring her out of the depression she had been in ever since.

By the same token, with the dowry that he and his mother had decided to put into the contract, which was a considerable sum along with a rather large house and property to help the young clan out, there was very little reason he could think of to deny the contract.

Deep in thought himself, Ikari had pretty much noted many of the same things that Itachi just had, and sighed aloud. Turning to Yuugao as he re-rolled the scroll, he bowed his head and spoke. "Onēsan, I'm inclined to agree, but I bow to your wisdom in the matter. Having given it some thought and glancing over the terms, they are being quite generous in helping our new clan in our humble beginnings." He then stood and smiled at her for a moment before becoming serious once more.

"However," here he looked to Itachi and the Hokage with determination in his eyes, "I must insist that _IF _we agree to the betrothal that she is informed of who I used to be, what I contain, and who my former family is. I also beg of you to consider her desires in this, and if she doesn't want to go through with this for good reason, that we let the matter end there. Is this acceptable?"

Taking a moment to look at Ikari, he nodded and smiled softly. "I don't think she'll have any problems with it. That and the house and property sit on land that is on the edge of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan lands so you will have more than enough room to grow."

Tilting his head in thought for a moment Ikari smiled. "Perhaps we could discuss this over dinner tonight?"

Itachi looked to Yuugao who simply shrugged and nodded. Turning his gaze back to Ikari, he nodded as well. "That would be…acceptable, Ikari-kun, shall we say half past six this evening?"

Returning Itachi's gaze for the moment, Ikari smiled and nodded. "Arigatou and that is indeed an acceptable time." He then bowed to everyone present, turned to the Hokage and looked at him with a questioning gaze. Receiving a nod from the older man, he turned and approached Yuugao and walked away talking with her, leaving the council to chuckle at his departure.

Walking up to the two men standing together, Hiashi chuckled slightly as he nodded at the young boy who had just left. "Hiruzen, Itachi, something tells me that that youth is going to go places, yes?"

Nodding his head in agreement, the Hokage simply laughed as he watched the departing group of ninja. "Itachi, something tells me that it might be a wise idea for me to be available later on this evening, because I am almost positive that your two clans will become quite close in the coming years."

"I agree Hokage-sama, I totally agree."

**A/N: Well another chapter down in a new series. I know that it probably took everyone by surprise having an OC for one of his wives, but I figured that what the heck! It's my fanfic so I can do what I want in it within reason.**

**HEHE! Enjoy, and please review!**

_**Suiton: Mizu-dan**_ – Water Style: Water Bullet

_**Katon: Hinotama**_ – Fire Style: Fireball

_**Fuuton: Kaze dangan**_ – Wind Style: Wind Bullet


	3. Chapter 2: The Next Step on the Path

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

Chapter 2: The Next Step on the Path

_**Two Years Later**_

Turning in for the night, Ikari sighed in relief. The past two years had been most beneficial for him in multiple ways. The first was that his first meeting with his former family had possibly been pushed back another three years. The main reason for that being that they had improved the Academy's curriculum due to quite a few injuries and deaths that could have been prevented had the Genin actually received more in depth training than just the basic techniques that were covered as well as ensuring that the trainees were physically fit.

That had increased the graduation age from twelve to thirteen, and then there was the mandatory time as a Genin before being able to go to the Chunin exams that the Council had established, which meant that there was a two year time requirement to be able to go from Genin to Chunin.

Due to this delay in graduation, as well as the time requirement, there was a small possibility it had pushed the confrontation with his former relatives from when he was twelve to fifteen, and with the test he had undergone earlier today in trying to join the ANBU, he was certain that by the time he actually had the confrontation with his former family that he would be a Jonin and be firmly entrenched as a clan head.

While he was fairly certain that he did well enough to pass, he was still concerned because his age might be the one factor in him not being accepted. That and he was concerned about the possibility of his ex-relatives coming back earlier to ensure that their daughters were made Genin.

Then there was the new house that he had been living in for the last year and a half. He had been pleasantly surprised by the reaction he had received from Setsuki, and that had been the deciding factor in choosing to sign the contract.

_***FLASHBACK START***_

_The dinner had been amazing, but Ikari could already tell that something was worrying Setsuki and he knew that he wasn't the only one to pick up on it. Once dinner was over, the conversation slowly became heavier, as both Itachi and Mikoto, his mother and chief advisor in his role as the Uchiha Clan head, directed the conversation toward why everyone was there this evening._

_Eventually, the Uchiha Matriarch smiled and cleared her throat. "Setsuki-chan, there are multiple reasons for why we are all gathered here tonight. The first is to clear up the mystery concerning one of your dearest friends, one Uzumaki Naruto. I promised you when you were much younger that I would help you to find him or find out what happened to him, and I am happy to tell you that he is alive and well even if he has changed more than you might have expected."_

_Sitting up straight with a small smile on her face, the first one that anyone had seen on the seven-year olds face in quite some time, she looked expectantly at her Oba-san. "I had hoped so Oba-san, where has he been all this time? What happened to him? When will I see him again or…or h-has he f-f-forgotten all about me?"_

_Right as she stood to run to her room, her hands over her face, she was wrapped up in a hug from behind her. Then she heard a familiar voice in her ear. "Suki-chan, I never forgot you, I promise you that. I had to get strong though because I found out some rather disturbing things about my family and because of certain things that you will be made aware of tonight, I had to train in secret for the last three years. I know that I owe you an explanation at the very least and I promise you that I will give it to you. Believe it!"_

_Hearing those two very familiar words, she spun around and looked the person who was holding her, and since his eyes were closed she peered closely at his face, tracing the faint lines of the whiskers on his cheeks with her eyes. Wrapping her arms tightly around him, she buried her face in his neck while crying softly. He had maneuvered her carefully, and sitting back in her chair, Ikari had placed her in his lap and rocked her as he comforted her. _

_Before they left that night, he had told everyone there everything, and had even Sasuke and Mikoto stunned by the level of betrayal that had happened to him. None of them batted an eye when he told them that he was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune; although all three women present crowed about how the most powerful demon lord was a female._

_What she was stunned about though was the fact that Miyuki-kaa-san had changed his body so that not only was he not related to his former family anymore, but that he had been given a new bloodline and was the beginning of a whole new clan as well. Setsuki thought about whether she would be allowed to marry him, and was a little put out about the fact that she would have to share him. "What do you mean that I will have to share you if I want this?"_

_Smiling at her gently, he placed a finger to her lips. "Suki-chan, can you share me? I want you to know that I will consider us all as equals under our roof. Only in public will I appear to greater, and that is only because I will be the head of our clan. In any important decision you and the others, whoever they might be, will have an equal say in what we choose. Can you accept this?"_

_Pouting cutely at him, she turned and thought about it for a few minutes. On the one hand she knew that he would have to have at least three wives. She knew what kind of person he was, and knew that growing up he had had very little love and affection in his life, but amazingly enough he still had a big heart and she knew that she wouldn't be loved or cared for any less than the others. Setsuki was also very grateful that she wouldn't have to be a trophy wife, someone who was only kept around for her looks and to pop out babies. _

_As she tossed the idea around, Ikari was quietly carrying on conversation with his host and his family. They covered just about any topic you could think of, from his training regimen, to the ideas he had for getting back at certain people for just foolishly abandoning him. After a few more minutes she squeezed him gently to let him know that she had made her decision._

_Gulping slightly at the attention on her, she cleared her throat afterward so that she could speak. "I…I accept the proposal. I know Na…Ikari-kun would never treat anyone precious to him badly, and to be honest I think I'd like the opportunity to grow together with him over the next few years, so that we can get to know each other better."_

_***FLASHBACK END***_

In fact, the house had needed so much work done, that it was better off being torn down and rebuilt. He and Itachi had come to an agreement that they would match every single ryo that he put into the new building, and that was mainly due to the fact that they figured that he wouldn't be bringing in all that much until he gained more rank and was able to take on harder missions.

What they still didn't know is that he had his clones steadily making sealing scrolls and explosive tags on the side and that he was making around 15,000 ryo each month above and beyond what he was making with missions. It was part of the reason why they had managed to have a new house built so quickly, and with all the extra cash he had coming in he had personally commissioned a few extras, like the mixed bathing onsen, the training dojo, and a flower garden with a pond.

Laying there in bed as he prepared to go to sleep, the youth sat there and mentally estimated how much he had saved up over the last two years and whistled quietly as he figured he had saved up almost 500,000 ryo in the last two years, and that wasn't counting interest earned either. Smiling to himself as he fell asleep, he knew well that his future family wouldn't suffer the way he had growing up.

_**The Next Day**_

Ikari had awakened much refreshed this morning, showered and gotten dressed in his standard clothes. Black ANBU pants with pockets running down the legs, a sleeveless mesh undershirt with a dark green long sleeve shirt over it with his black Chunin vest over the top. He tied his hitai-ate around his left bicep and laced up his black steel toed boots. Walking downstairs he greeted the elderly housekeeper that he had hired on as soon as the house was complete.

"Ohayo Mika-san, how are you this morning?"

She turned as she finished with breakfast and smiled at the young man. "Ohayo Ikari-kun, I am just fine and how did you sleep last night?"

Grinning widely, Ikari chuckled. "I slept quite well, thanks. Training does wonders for ensuring that one sleeps well at night. Is there anything we are in need of that I can get for you while I am out and about today?"

Shaking her head, she slid a plate with eggs and toast in front of the young man. "No, we are good for now. You do remember that you have a meeting in half an hour at the Hokage's Office, yes?"

Nodding absent-mindedly, he grinned as he felt that he had indeed passed the test he needed to in order to join the ranks of the ANBU. It was then that he thought of a way to celebrate his passing the test. "Mika-san, if it's not too much of a hassle can I ask you for a favor today?"

Getting a nod from her, he grinned as he finished the last of his food and swallowed. "I was wondering if I could persuade you to pick up something extra special for dinner tonight, enough for eight people."

Nodding as she took the plate from his place at the head of the table she paused for a moment. "Something fancy Ikari-kun?"

Shaking his head for her to see, he stood and prepared to walk out the door. "Nothing too fancy, I would like to sit down and have a family dinner with all those whom I consider my family who will be available tonight. And by the way that includes you as well Mika-san." With a quick hug and a wink, he quickly ran out the door hearing her chuckles as he did so.

_**The Hokage's Office**_

Arriving about five minutes later, the young man knocked on the doors to Oji-san's office and opened them once he had heard someone tell him to enter. Walking inside, he kept his eyes focused on the Hokage, all the while taking everyone that was around him, whether they could be seen or only sensed.

Bowing to the Hokage, he stood once more, his face set in serious tones. "Chunin Sōjin reporting as ordered Hokage-sama."

Standing from behind his desk, he went through a couple of hand seals and activated the improved privacy seals in his office. Once he was done with that, he turned to all the others who were in his office and motioned for them to drop their masks. Cat turned out to be Yuugao, Dog was Kakashi, Weasel was Itachi and the ANBU Commander, otherwise known as Wolf, was Hyuuga Hana. Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, the Hokage began to speak.

"Sōjin-san you have been called here today to join the ranks of the ANBU. You will be joining the ANBU Black Ops Squad, under the command of Hatake Kakashi, and whose members are as follows: Weasel who is their long-range combat specialist and interrogator, and Cat who is the team's assassination and close-combat specialist. There are three masks that you can choose from here, and they are the Hawk, Boar, and Fox masks. Once you have chosen your mask, then we will ask you to take off your shirt to receive your tattoo which will designate you as an ANBU."

Standing and approaching the desk, Ikari looked over the masks that were there and quickly picked up the Fox mask. Taking it in hand and stepping back, he looked to his Aniki and handed him his Chunin vest and mask with a nod, and then stripped off his hitai-ate and his long-sleeved shirt. Sitting en seiza in front of the Hokage, he looked up at the old man with a smile on his face. "I'm ready Hokage-sama."

Smiling down at the young man, he then turned to Yuugao and Hana, who were the tattoo specialists in the ANBU, and motioned them forward. Yuugao looked down at her Otōto and smiled widely. "You have come a long way, Otōto. As a special gift for today Hana-san and I will give you one more tattoo, free of charge, wherever you would like and whatever you would like."

Thinking about it for a moment, he was struck with inspiration. While Hana was busy tattooing the ANBU mark on his left shoulder, he smiled up at his Onēsan. "A fox head sitting directly over nine fox tails arranged in a circle, directly over my heart. She changed my life for the better and this will be my clan's new symbol, minus the fox head of course."

Nodding her head, Yuugao waited until Hana was finished and then asked Ikari to stand so that they could do the requested tattoo. Once it was done he looked down at it and smiled. _"That one is for you, kaa-san."_

'_**Thank you Ikari-kun, I appreciate the touch. There is something we will need to talk about though, in regards to your clan and the first betrothal you have arranged as well as any other wives you marry.'**_

'_Okay then, how about before dinner this evening so that we can discuss any possible courses of action with all who might be involved?'_

Once he had gotten the feeling that she agreed with his timing, he looked up at everyone there and grinned. "Well this is another step towards my goal, huh Oji-san?"

Gently smiling at the young man, Hiruzen nodded. "Indeed it is Ikari-kun, now then I have a mission briefing for all of you in the morning, so be here at eight and don't be late. Dismissed."

Getting the attention of the three ANBU he needed to invite, he motioned for them to follow him. Once they had left the Hokage Tower, he led the way to one of the parks nearby. Once there he threw down a disposable privacy seal that he had created and then handed each of them an invite. "The invite is to a family dinner at my home tonight. I know that we can't discuss certain aspects of our lives, not even with our closest of loved ones but I kinda had a feeling that I would pass the test and figured that it would be a good reason to celebrate tonight, as a family, because some of you are family already to me, and a few of you will become family to me in time."

Looking around at all three of them, Ikari smiled as he saw them all nod. "Well then let's get me kitted out with the ANBU gear I'm going to need, ne?" Everyone simply smiled at the young man and then shunshined away.

_**Next Day**_

Having awoken early the next morning, the young heir had conducted his morning business and gotten dressed in his new attire. A new sleeveless emerald green shirt that was covered by a dark blue Jonin style ANBU vest, dark blue ANBU pants and the steel toed boots, and his hitai-ate was the final touch as he finished getting dressed. On the way out the door, he let Mika-san know that he was going to be gone on a mission and didn't know how long he was going to be gone for.

Disappearing in a swirl of ice shards, he re-appeared in the Hokage's Office with his mask on and ready to go. Seeing as he was the first one there, and that not even the Hokage was there yet, he covered himself in a genjutsu and hid his chakra levels and then waited for everyone else to get there.

Five minutes later everyone else was there and he pulled down the genjutsu and stood next to Weasel. Glancing up to see that they were all there, the Hokage sighed mentally. "I have two missions so I am going to need the four of you to split up. The first mission is to assess the efforts and capabilities of the rebels in Mist. From there if your assessment is favorable, the two that go are to remain and assist them. Do not get captured by their enemies as they are on a witch-hunt against bloodline users. One of the two who will be going on this mission is Fox, as he will be needed if the assessment indeed turns out favorable and the reason for that is because their Yondaime Mizukage is the Jinchuriki of the Sanbi."

Stopping here for a moment, he could feel the tension and realized that there wasn't anything he could do about it now but pray that everything turned out well. "The other mission is to remain off the books for now, because it involves subterfuge of the highest level due to the nature of the people you will be in contact with. I need two of you to deliver a scroll to the Sennin Jiraiya, and let him know that training mission or not, if he doesn't get back on the ball with his spy network I will have him marked as a nukenin and put a kill on sight order out for him in the Bingo books. If he argues with you or tries to blow you off, let him know that twice now in the last six months I have had to find out about some rather important events that could have had major ramifications from his spy network and even then it was almost too late for us to do anything about it! Not to mention that they have told me that he has not been in contact with them for over a year!"

Giving himself a moment or two to calm down, he sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "My apologies, I do not mean to take these things out on you, but lately I find myself wondering what the hell I was thinking allowing those idiots to carry out their foolish plan. I want you to make your plans and depart no later than noon."

Looking around for a moment, he located the two scrolls he was searching for and tossed them to Dog. "The blue-edged scroll contains your contact location and passwords to meet up with your contact in the port city of Otāzu no Odori. The green edged scroll is the one that I need delivered to Jiraiya. Once you have taken care of that, then and only then will the two of you link up with the others who will be in Mizu no Kuni. Understood?"

Four replies of "Hai, Hokage-sama," were his answer and he nodded. "Good then all I have to say is good luck and return safely." His only response was four nods and then they vanished in various methods of shunshin. Once they were safely out of sight and hearing, he sagged back in his seat and tilted his head back. "May Kami watch over and protect you all."

Once they had reappeared at the ANBU training ground, Kakashi removed his mask and turned towards the others. After gazing at both Itachi and Yuugao for a moment, he sighed and looked to Ikari. "I know that you have been in life and death situations before Otōto, I want you to promise me something though. I need you to promise me that you will follow Itachi's instructions. You are important to me, and I am unsure of how long it will take us to locate our target and link back up with you."

Taken aback for a moment, Ikari nodded and sighed. "You have my word that I will do my best to follow Itachi's instructions."

Eye-smiling at his younger brother, Kakashi sighed mentally, relieved at how easily that had gone over. Clipping his mask back into place, he straightened his shoulders and turned to Yuugao. "You're with me Cat, Weasel and Fox you are to head out to the contact's location and be there in three days. Good luck and be cautious."

He then disappeared in a swirl of leaves along with Cat, leaving the other two to their own devices. Fox turned to Weasel and frowned even though he knew the other man couldn't see it. "I need to stop by and see Suki-chan before we leave, just to let her know I'm going to be gone for a while."

Nodding at the young man, he smirked at Ikari, grateful for the mask that he wore so that he wouldn't be able to see it. Disappearing in two swirls of fire, the ANBU training grounds were soon left empty.

_**Three Days Later **_

Once they had arrived near the outskirts of Otāzu no Odori, they slowed down and after ensuring that there was no one around them, removed their masks and used a _**Henge**_ to conceal their looks. Looking around as they walked around the town, they stopped by a dango stand to grab some food and continued on.

About a half hour later they found the inn that they were supposed to meet their contact at and headed inside. Once they had arranged for a room for the night, they then took a seat at table where they could observe everything and everyone going by. After ordering a bottle of sake and some food, they sat there quietly conversing for a little over an hour before someone came in that caught Ikari's eye.

Motioning to Itachi where only he could see, he communicated using ANBU hand signals that their contact had just shown up. Getting a nod in return, he stood and approached the table that she was sitting at with one other person, figuring that since he was the more un-assuming of the two that he would be greeted with slightly less hostility than Itachi would have.

Sitting down at the table he smiled lightly at the woman across from him. "The waters are cold this time of year."

Catching the slight widening of her eyes, he watched as she nodded and spoke quietly. "Yes, they are indeed, I just hope that the fires will keep us warm. Have we kept you waiting long?"

Shaking his head, he signaled Itachi to join them. "No as we just got into town today. My companion and I have some questions for you before we leave with you." He then turned to Itachi once she nodded and motioned for him to take over the conversation.

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Itachi nodded to his younger comrade before turning to their host. "I'm thinking that we should discuss this in a more private location, we have a room upstairs and I think it might be best if you and your companion joined us so that we aren't overheard."

Smirking, the woman turned to her companion and looked at him in a questioning manner. He returned her gaze with certainty and nodded back at her. She then stood and motioned for them to lead the way, which Ikari did, followed closely by the two strangers and Itachi as the rearguard.

Upon reaching their room, Ikari slapped a seal on the door and channeled a little chakra into it. Then slipped in some hand seals after biting his thumb, and slammed his hand into the floor. "_**Kuchiyose no jutsu**_" Two three-tailed Kitsune, one that was an icy blue in color and the other the blazing reddish-orange of a fire, popped out of a small cloud of smoke and looked to their summoner.

"**What do you require of us Ikari-sama?"** Hiding his grimace, he spoke quietly to them, yet still loud enough to be heard by everyone there in the room. "Greetings to both of you, Shimo, Takibi, I need the two of you to make certain that we are not overheard by anyone. Do not attack and employ your stealth skills to observe and report any chakra usage outside of this room within five hundred meters."

Both nodding at their summoner, they popped out of the room as Ikari looked up at his partner. "We should be secure now, so we can begin anytime you wish to."

This got Itachi's attention and he turned towards the pair who were just sitting there, somewhat stunned by the ability of the young man. "The first thing that we would like to know is your names. I am Uchiha Itachi, and my partner is Sōjin Ikari." It was at this point that the two of them dropped their respective _**Henge**_ and resumed their normal looks.

The woman nodded and pointed to her companion first. "This is Ao, and my name is Terumi Mei. I must admit to being impressed as I wasn't expecting someone so young."

Smirking just a bit, Itachi replied, "True but we weren't expecting to meet with the leader of the rebels and her second-in-command either."

"Touché, now what questions do you have for us, because I'll be honest with you, the reality of things is that we are in dire straits and we will need the aid of a Jinchuriki if we are to end Yagura's reign of terror and bloodshed."

Motioning to his younger partner Itachi let Ikari take the floor. "That would be why I am here, what can you tell us as far as the numbers you are up against and what condition your own troops are in?"

Mei turned to Ao and nodded. Sighing a little, Ao shook his head a bit. "We are out-numbered three to one at this point in time. Our troops are in good shape for now, but morale is slowly starting to waver as we have been slowly losing ground. Most of the civilians want Yagura gone, but with so many Shinobi against us, the most they are willing to do is secretly provide us with food and medicine. In all honesty if we can't win at least one major victory and soon, things will come crashing down around our ears and the rebellion will fail. The worst part is that if Yagura wins, it will not bode well for countries like Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni who have well-known bloodlines."

Sitting back in their chairs, the two Konoha Nin took their time sorting through the information they had just received. Itachi turned to Ikari and raised an eyebrow at him, to which he responded by shrugging. Turning back to the Kiri Nin, he slowly nodded his head. "If we assist you and you win, have you given any thought to who will become the new Mizukage? Also what are you offering for our services as we are here in an off-the-books mission because of the chance of capture?"

The two Mist ninja looked at each other and nodded, and then Mei looked at both of them. "Once we win I will more than likely become the Godaime Mizukage, as far as what you would receive in return for your services I am afraid that we won't be able to afford to give you much in return. I am inclined to offer an alliance with Konoha with very favorable terms, but other than that I can't really offer much else."

Sharing a quick glance the two younger ninja nodded. "That is acceptable perhaps we could receive a favor redeemable at a later date instead of direct payment, but nothing too unreasonable of course."

"That is indeed acceptable. I am guessing that Ikari-san here is the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

Simply smirking at her, Ikari bowed slightly. "Indeed I am Mei-san. I compliment you on your deductive reasoning."

Smiling brightly at the young man, she nodded her head once. "If that is all for your questions, I suggest we all get ready for tomorrow, as that is when our ship returns for us. We leave at daybreak."

Before they got up to go Ikari flared his chakra twice and then there were two puffs of smoke that appeared in front of him. Glancing down at his two summons he spoke quietly. "Anything to report?"

"**Nothing Ikari-sama, there were a few flares of chakra but they were much further out and were separate instances. Plus they were all in the direction of Konoha."**

"Very well done you two, now I have one more task for you and it will last until we meet back up at daybreak tomorrow. Takibi your job is to keep a watch for Mei-san and Ao-san, Shimo the same applies for you with Itachi and me. Stay out of sight at all times and if anyone tries anything suspicious wake us and we'll figure out what kind of action is needed from there, any questions?"

Getting two head shakes as his answer, he smiled and turned towards Mei and Ao. "Just a small precaution enabling us to get a restful night's sleep, Takibi is a fire oriented Kitsune just so you know if anything comes up."

Thanking the young man, Mei and Ao got up and left for their own room. As soon as they had left, both of the summons left as well leaving the two alone in their room. Lying back on his bed for a moment Ikari sighed. Turning his head to Itachi he frowned. "Do you think that we gave too much away at the moment?"

Itachi lay back on his own bed for a bit and thought about it. "No, I don't feel like they are going to take advantage of us or anything like that. So I think that we did just fine with the level of information that we gained as well as gave away. Before we go to sleep tonight we need to make sure we send a report to Kakashi, I will write it up if you will take care of summoning a fox to send it."

"Agreed, I am just a tad bit nervous though. I've fought bandits and nukenin before, but in an actual battle or part of a civil war? I'm not scared so much as anxious, as I know that this will be on a far larger scale than anything I have ever been through before."

Itachi turned to look at the young man that he regarded as part of his own family. "I trust you to do what you feel is truly right. It isn't all that uncommon to feel that way, all it means is that you are human. What you need to worry about is when you feel nothing at all for that is when you have truly lost all touch with humanity."

Exhaling heavily, Ikari turned to look at Itachi and smiled slightly. "Thanks Itachi, I appreciate that greatly. I suppose that we should get that report written up so Aniki can get it sent to the Hokage along with his own report."

Closing his eyes for a moment, Ikari thought back to the conversation he had had with his family the night before he had left. It had been extremely nerve-wracking as he wasn't too certain how well the topic would go over. It had involved what he and Miyuki-chan had discussed earlier that day.

_***FLASHBACK START***_

_He had just gotten home and was putting the finishing touches on a few notes for a jutsu he was trying to finish, when he sighed and stretched out for a minute. Taking a gander at the clock he saw that he had about an hour before anyone would start to show up, and he remembered what his kaa-san had asked of him. Wrapping up what he had been working on, he put the scroll into a seal that was tattooed on his wrist and sat on his bed. _

_Relaxing, Ikari quickly entered his mindscape and found Miyuki lying out in the sun in her Kitsune form. Approaching her, he lay down with his head on her flank, just soaking in the closeness he felt. After a few minutes of this, he gently shook her awake and lay still while she woke up and shifted to her human form. In short order he was lying there with his head in her lap, and she had her hands running through his hair._

_Smiling up at her, he gently cleared his throat. "What was that you wanted to talk with me about earlier, kaa-san?"_

_Returning his smile, she sighed softly as she looked off into the distance. "I know how alone you have been most of your life, and I know that you desire a large and loving family. What would you say if I told you that there is a way for you to ensure not only your bloodline, but to ensure that your wives would live as long as you will, and also enjoy the slower aging effects that you will?"_

_As he considered the option his eyes became rather unfocused and thus he didn't notice as Miyuki laid a motherly kiss on his forehead. He was lost in thought about it for a few minutes and finally shook his head and re-focused his eyes on her. "What exactly does this entail? I'm sure that whatever the actual process is it won't be painless…"_

_Shaking her head sadly, she frowned a bit. "No unfortunately. It is a rather simple process, and it involves you channeling my chakra into your partner after biting them. It won't leave a mark, but it requires physical contact for at least eight hours after you channel enough of my chakra into them so that I can work through the required changes to their blood and body. I won't be changing as much so they will still be related to their parents and not to you, but I would need to do it soon at least in the case of Setsuki."_

_Growing concerned Ikari looked up at her with a slight frown. "I only have two questions, kaa-san. First is when you say physical contact what exactly do you mean? Second just why would you need to do this sooner for Setsuki than you would need to for someone else?"_

_Miyuki chuckled at his questions. "Your first question is rather easy to answer; all you would need to do is sleep next to each other, preferably holding each other close. The second one is a touch more complicated, as the reason for needing to do it sooner is because on the off-chance that Setsuki actually activates her Sharingan, it would take far more of my chakra than would be safe for her to have in her system and it would more than likely kill her. So if you think about it, not only does she gain all the benefits from your bloodline, but she also goes from maybe gaining her Sharingan, to definitely gaining the Seigi if we do this."_

_He laid there stunned for a few minutes before snapping out of it. Looking up at her with gratitude, he sat up and tackled her in a hug, all the while mumbling his thanks to her for her kindness and care. She simply hugged him back rocking him back and forth until it was nearly time to get ready to receive the guests for dinner that night._

_***FLASHBACK END***_

Ikari smiled to himself as he remembered the reactions he had gotten from everyone who had participated in that particular conversation. He would admit to a certain level of nervousness since Setsuki was going to give him her answer once he got back from this mission. Hoping that she would say yes, he shook his head to clear it and sat up. "You about done with that report Itachi?"

Getting a nod from his older partner, he quickly ran through the process of summoning, and a one-tail fox popped up. **"Greetings Ikari-sama, you have something for me to do?"**

Picking up the small Kitsune and scratching behind her ears, he chuckled as he spoke to her. "Yes Yuri-chan I do indeed. Here in a few minutes once my partner here is done, I need you to take the report that he is writing to Hatake Kakashi. I want you to ensure that no one else but Uzuki Yuugao is around when you deliver it. Stealth is essential, so that's why I summoned you, because you are the sneakiest Kitsune I know next to Miyuki-chan."

Giggling softly, Yuri nodded and lay down in his lap, enjoying his attention for the moment. Itachi smiled slightly as he took in Ikari leaning back against the wall with Yuri lying on his lap. It never ceased to amaze him how big a heart the young man had especially with how badly he had been treated growing up.

Clearing his throat to get Ikari's attention, he watched as the young man's eyes snapped open. "I'm ready to send the report, are you ready?"

Nodding his head, Ikari leaned forward and stretched his hand out. Once he had the scroll in hand, he held it out for Yuri to grab hold of it. One last scratch of her ears and she was gone in a puff of smoke. Standing and stretching, the young man smiled at his sensei. "I'm going to grab some food before turning in, care to join me?"

Taking a moment to consider this, Itachi nodded. "That and I would like to discuss a few different seals I have thinking about to see if they could be modified in different ways."

Shrugging his shoulders as he led the way out of their room, Ikari just smiled. "I'm sure they could be, as fuinjutsu is probably among the strongest and most flexible, if not the most versatile, of the ninja arts."

_**Early Next Morning**_

Having gotten used to a funky sleep schedule was a huge benefit for Ikari, as he awoke in plenty of time to shower and was downstairs getting a large breakfast order placed by the time everyone else was there. Getting a couple of warmed chunks of raw liver, he greeted his summons. "Ohayo Shimo, Takibi. I trust that everything went well last night?"

"**Hai Ikari-sama. There was only one isolated incident but we quickly managed to root it out before it became a problem."** After hearing about the ROOT possibly getting involved where they shouldn't be, Ikari sighed mentally. "Very well done you two, here is your reward for such good work." Holding out his hands, he allowed them each to each the chunks of liver, channeled some water natured chakra and washed his hands of the residue, and then scratched their ears a bit.

"One last thing you two, I need one of you to relay a message to your eldest sister. I need you to let her know that her services might very well be needed in the not too distant future." He looked at both of them, trying to impress upon them the importance of this message.

Shimo and Takibi simply nodded. **"Hai Ikari-sama. You do realize though that Shinibana-ane is going to ask for you to start learning Senjutsu soon if you do summon her here, right?"**

Sighing aloud this time, he nodded. "I know, and soon I won't be able to turn her offer down, but that is not an issue for the moment. Now go back home and ensure that she gets my message."

They popped away, leaving everyone at the table staring at the young man. "What?" was his response as he sat there blinking in confusion at everyone there. Itachi was the one who responded in humorous undertones.

"I believe that the cause for shock in this case is the fact that no one ever knew that any of the other summon families besides the Toads and the Snakes could teach the art of Senjutsu to their summoner." He then looked to the other two that were there and received nods from the both of them. Mei cleared her throat and shook her head before speaking up as well.

"There's also the fact that you are quite possibly the youngest person I have ever heard of being able to summon, let alone being taught the Sage Arts." Her voice was soft and respectful as she spoke, somehow also filled with awe at the strength this young man possessed.

Chuckling lightly Ikari simply nodded at them. "Well dig in before it gets cold, we need to be at our best so I woke a little early and arranged for this spread."

Throughout the meal everyone was discussing the upcoming trip and what they should expect from their hosts. They learned about how the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri had attempted a coup to try and overthrow Yagura and how the attempt had failed. Most of them had then disappeared, with the exception of Ringo Ameyuri and Chojuro, who had both joined the rebellion to aid Mei.

When he heard this, Ikari got a gleam in his eyes as he thought about getting the opportunity to spar with one of the Seven Swordsmen. He continued to listen as they spoke about other issues that they had come across, like the extermination of the Kaguya and Yuki clans and their bloodlines. It was while they were finally leaving the town and out to sea that he got up the courage to ask about what their bloodlines where that he got the shock of his life.

"Ne, Mei-san, can you tell me a little bit about the two clans and what their bloodlines were?" Ikari stood at the railing, enjoying the sea breeze that was blowing in his face while they talked.

Her eyes closed, Mei mentally shrugged as she thought about whether or not she should be talking about these things when she realized it really couldn't do any harm. "The Kaguya had the ability to call their bones out from there body in various ways, either as weapons or as ways of entrapping their foes. The Yuki clan was able to utilize one of the sub-elemental chakra as their bloodline, much like my own family. The Terumi clan has the ability to use both Youton and Futton sub-elements as part of our Kekkei Genkai."

Here the young smiled as he thought about what her elemental affinities were. "So you're very similar to me then. I was given a new bloodline by the Bijuu that I contain the ability to use the Shakuton and Hyouton sub-elements…" He trailed off for a moment when he sensed that she was staring at him. Opening his eyes and looking at her face, Ikari was surprised to see the look of shock on her face. "What's wrong, Mei-san?"

Shaking her head, she turned her head to look back out to sea. "The sub-element of the Yuki clan was Hyouton…"

Realizing that he might have brought up some bad memories, he sighed. "Gomen Mei-san, as I did not mean to remind you of anything bad."

Waving his concerns off for the moment, she turned back to him. "You couldn't have known Ikari-san. I will say this though; you will find it much easier to use your Hyouton abilities while in Mizu no Kuni, seeing as it will be easier for you to draw out water from the surrounding area to use in your jutsu."

Taking a moment to consider this new revelation, Mei was struck by an idea. "Say Ikari-san, what would you say to receiving copies of any jutsu that they had, if we can find any of their scrolls?"

Growing wide-eyed for a moment, Ikari stopped to think about it for a bit. "Will this be in lieu of my receiving a favor for later?"

The red-haired woman immediately shook her head. "No this will be a bonus of sorts, as there is no guarantee of there even being anything of theirs still around."

Bowing ever so slightly, Ikari drew her attention back towards him. "Even if we find nothing to help me, I will be honored to help in any way I can."

Stunned for a few seconds, Mei turned to look at the young man. "Why would you put yourself out there for us even forgoing any type of payment?"

Standing up straight, he headed for where there quarters were on the ship. "That's quite simple: because it is the right thing to do."

**A/N: So far in this story we have a fem Haku, and an OC as two of his wives, and I am debating who will be the third member of his mini-harem. It will more than likely NOT be any one from Konoha, and I am kinda leaning towards either a fem Gaara or possibly Tsuchi Kin. I would like to have everyone vote on who they would rather see round out the list of wives for him, and it will be between Tsuchi Kin, Tenten, and Karin.**

**Cast your votes and please read and review! **


	4. Chapter 3: The Civil War in Kiri Part I

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

**A/N: So far the poll for who will be the third and final spouse is as follows:**

**Fem Gaara – 5**

**Tenten – 2**

**Tsuchi Kin – 2**

**Tenten/Kin – 3**

**Karin – 1**

**Please keep in mind that I will leave this poll open to vote until the end of the Wave arc, which will be in 3-4 chapters, so please read, review, and throw your vote out there, even if it's for someone that you don't see listed and if you can give me a logical reason behind it, I might go for someone unusual or rarely paired with him, say Samui or Karui from Kumo, just for examples of what I am talking about.**

Chapter 3: The Civil war in Kiri Part I

_**Three Months Later**_

Grunting as he finished his most recent spar, Ikari smiled as he sheathed his swords and wiped his brow. Bowing to Ameyuri as she reciprocated his actions, they took a seat and relaxed. "That was intense Ameyuri-san. If you had to honestly rate my abilities in kenjutsu, where would you say I'm at?"

Taking a moment to slug down some water, Ameyuri thought about what the young man had said. Three months ago when she had first met him and the rest of his comrades from the Leaf, she had chuckled to herself thinking that the child was just playing at being a ninja. Then a month into their stay, he had been one member of a two man team that had been sent out to assist them when she and three others had been ambushed on a medicine and food run.

_***FLASHBACK START***_

_Cursing up a storm, Ameyuri sliced through yet another kunai thrown at her. She had managed to hold off the attackers for a while now, enabling the rest of her team to get out and hopefully make it back to the base with the food and medicine. Running on fumes as far as her chakra was concerned, she was almost desperate enough to consider making this her last stand and taking out as many as she could before going down as well. That was when she saw five figures blur past her into the trees where she had seen at least ten of her attackers lash out at her from, and then heard a young voice scream "__**Idaina Bakuhatsu Hyōei bunshin**__!" _

_Then there was a flash of blue light and the sound of multiple explosions as the figures turned a bluish-white color and shattered sending fist sized shards of ice into the surrounding woods. By the sounds she heard afterward there must have been at least five of her enemies that were either dead or wounded. Right after that she saw a three tail Kitsune race past her and take up a protective stance in front of her, and then felt a presence at her side._

_Turning to look she saw one of their few medic ninja and smiled a tiny bit. Getting a nod in return, she broke for cover, and took a breather. The Kitsune tilted its head toward her and spoke in a low voice. __**"How many of your attackers are left? Be quick so I can assist my summoner."**_

_Taking a quick moment to count in her head, she rapidly did the math and replied. "Five to seven, all either Jonin or ANBU level let your summoner know that as soon as I have recovered a bit of my chakra we will be leaving. I just wish we could leave no survivors, because the people will be punished for assisting us."_

_Nodding his head really quickly, she heard him growl and bark a number of times before hearing a faint response. Cocking her head to one side she looked at the fox in front of her in a questioning manner. Chuckling as he felt her look at him, he spoke quickly before leaving in a hurry. __**"I just told my brothers and sister to leave no survivors, so don't worry about that. Once you're ready, head out and we will cover your retreat."**_

_While she waited for the medic to finish healing her more severe wounds, she dug around in one of her pouches, and finding one last soldier pill, popped it into her mouth. Once she was healed enough to move, she quickly stood and nodded her thanks to the medic. Hearing a scream of pain, she turned her head to look in the direction she had heard it come from and then heard another shout. __**"Shakuton: Shakunetsu no Ryū Hinotama!"**_

_The next thing she saw was a white hot fire dragon form from the flames coming out of the young boy's mouth, only to watch it spit out three fireballs the size of boulders. That combined with the screams of the three dying enemies convinced her it was time to leave and immediately ran after the medic ninja. Ten minutes later as they were making their way back, she was stunned to watch as five Kitsune took up position around them and the one in the lead, a five tail, was carrying what appeared to be the young boy that had come to help from the Leaf._

_***FLASHBACK END***_

Chuckling to herself, she saw Ikari's eyebrow rise at her mirth. Shaking her head, she sighed and looked at him. "To be honest I was just remembering the day my opinion of you changed, that day that you and your Kitsune saved my ass a few months back. I would honestly say that if you were one of ours, I would be doing _whatever_ it took to get you as my apprentice to become one of the _**Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū**_. You are currently at or around low ANBU level with your blades, and have an almost uncanny ability to read what your opponent is going to do before they do it."

Blushing lightly at the glowing praise and recommendation, Ikari bowed his head to her. "Arigato gozaimasu, Ameyuri-san, your assessment is much appreciated as is your honesty."

Waving her hand at him as they both stood, she simply shrugged off his words. "You asked for an honest opinion, and I am nothing if not blunt about the way I speak my mind. I call them like I see them, and if you ever change your mind about staying in Konoha, come see me after this civil war is won and I will ensure that you get a place here."

Chuckling lightly at her comment, he shook his head. "I highly doubt that my fiancée would agree with that all things considered. Especially since her clan and family all live in Konoha."

Shaking her head in amusement, she laughed aloud. "Engaged at ten, huh? Was it a pre-arranged betrothal of some sort?"

Grinning up at her Ikari nodded slightly. "Something like that, as I am the only member of my clan and bloodline remaining the Council has enacted the CRA for me, and to be honest I am grateful that it was one of my friends that I was engaged to. That alone makes it easier for me, especially since I won't have to be pressured or forced into any arrangements with women or girls that I may not even like or want to be with."

Grimacing slightly, Ameyuri shook her head and shuddered. "Better you then me, that's all I'll say about that particular subject, we'd best be heading out to see if there is anything going on."

_**Six Months Later**_

Having proven to be a superior swordsman, Ikari found himself teamed up with Ameyuri and Chojuro quite often on missions. All too often, at least in the beginning, he had been caught in the middle of the two seeing as how Ameyuri was an outspoken and brash woman, and Chojuro was lacking in self-confidence and rather meek to boot.

Now six months later, they were a fluid and efficient team. Having spent a lot of their off time together, he had somehow managed to calm Ameyuri down and built up Chojuro's confidence in himself and they had both imparted quite a bit of experience to the young man. They had provided the refining and polish that the young man had needed to truly shine.

At the current point in time, they were all heading back from a successful infiltration mission, which had gotten them some very interesting information on the actual numbers of Yagura's forces. They were all joking and laughing when there was a near silent gasp from Ameyuri that drew both of the other's attention.

They both stopped and turned to look at her and saw that she was staring at a copy of the Elemental Country's Bingo Book. Moving so that they could both look at what had her so shocked, they were shortly stunned as well. There staring up at them from the Unknown Affiliation section was Sōjin Ikari while wearing his Fox mask staring back at them.

_**The Hokage's Office**_

Sarutobi Hiruzen had been calmly reading his Icha Icha novel after having finished his paperwork when an ANBU popped into his office. Bowing to the Hokage, he failed to notice what was in his hands, thus allowing the Hokage to salvage his dignity. "Boar, report."

Handing him an open Bingo Book, he pointed to the page it was open to. Hiruzen frowned as he realized just who they were talking about.

**ALIAS: **_**Chi no Akuma Kitsune**_

**NAME: **_**Unknown**_

**AGE:** _**12-13**_

**VILLAGE: **_**Unknown**_

**DATE OF BIRTH: **_**Unknown**_

**BLOOD TYPE: **_**Unknown**_

**HEIGHT: **_**5 FT**_

**WEIGHT: **_**~100 LBS**_

**BLOODLINE: **_**Hyouton/Shakuton**_

**THREAT RANK: **_**B**_

**ABILITIES – **

_**TAIJUTSU: UNKNOWN**_

_**GENJUTSU: CHUNIN/JONIN**_

_**NINJUTSU: JONIN**_

_**KENJUTSU: JONIN/ANBU**_

**KNOWN ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: **_**WIND, FIRE, WATER**_

**WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE – **_**KIRI (500,000 RYO)**_

_**Wanted in Kiri for aiding and abetting the Rebel Faction, as he has killed 10 ANBU, 20 Jonin, and 37 Chunin all in the name of the Rebels is especially lethal with his twin kodachi. Be cautious and never approach him one on one, as he knows multiple jutsu that point to him having multiple bloodlines, similar to Terumi Mei. Has been seen with two of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū, Ameyuri Ringo and Chojuro, if he is seen with the two of them FLEE ON SIGHT.**_

Exhaling heavily, he sat back in his chair for a moment. Turning to the ANBU he looked at them for a moment and then sighed again. "They're fishing for information, are they...?" His frown returned as he thought about his course of action at this point in time. Unfortunately there wasn't anything that they could do at this point in time.

_**Mizu no Kuni, Rebel Base**_

As soon as they got done reading the entry, they all leapt back into the trees and high-tailed it back to base. Once there they went their separate ways and Ikari took a copy of the Bingo Book and went looking for his Aniki.

Ten minutes later he found him leaving the armory, and Ikari fell in step alongside his brother figure. After a couple minutes of silence, Kakashi figured out that something was bothering the young man, and calmly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong Otōto? Is there something bothering you?"

Nodding, he handed his Aniki the Bingo Book. Not comprehending what was going through his mind at the moment, Kakashi idly flipped through it to the Konoha section and didn't see anything amiss. "Turn to the Unknown Affiliation section, B-Rank threats."

Shrugging as he still hadn't quite connected the dots, he turned to the aforementioned section, and stopped suddenly as he saw the first person listed. Stunned, he read through the listing and smiled to himself as he got to the end. Moving along towards the living area that they had had setup for themselves he studied Ikari to see what his true thoughts were on the matter.

"So how do you feel about this?"

All he got in response was a head shake and a half-hearted shrug. "Don't honestly know _what_ to think or feel about it to be honest. The first thing that came to mind was that I'd somehow compromised our village, at least until I saw where they had me listed. Then there was the fact that they somehow had someone survive one of the missions I had been on to have as thorough a listing as they did."

So absorbed in his thoughts and what he was saying that he didn't even notice when Yuugao and Itachi had joined them. Kakashi had wordlessly handed off the book to them, ensuring that it was open to the correct section.

"I think that it's pretty nifty that I'm only eleven and already people consider me to be a B-Rank threat, though it does make my life a bit more dangerous. I'm just grateful that there isn't anything in there about my Dojutsu. Wouldn't you agree, Aniki?"

It was at this point that he looked up and noticed that his other two comrades had joined them. Smiling slightly at them, he nodded at the book and looked at them in a questioning manner. Quickly getting the idea of what he was asking, they all nodded at him while smiling at the same time. Yuugao was the first one to speak up, hesitantly though, as she didn't want to offend Ikari

"So how do you feel about it, you know, actually being in the Bingo Book?"

Pausing as they had reached their initial destination, he smiled sadly. "In a way it's kinda neat, that someone who doesn't know me can rate my skills in such a manner. To be blunt, I figured that either it would be some time before I actually became a target in such a manner, or I would only merit a C-Rank threat at most starting out." Sighing as he collapsed backwards on his bed, he watched as everyone gathered around him as he thought out what he was going to say.

"It's also kinda nerve-wracking at the same time, knowing that someday soon I could be fighting off people who are only after my bounty, ya know?" Ikari ran a hand over his face, and laughed as a thought struck him.

"I guess I will just have to keep on getting stronger, so that I can protect not only those who are precious to me, but also to protect myself, ne?" Everyone laughed at that, with the exception of Itachi, who just smiled broadly at the young man who would be related to him sooner or later.

The raven-haired man leant back in his seat for a moment and looked at Ikari. "So how'd your most recent mission go?" Looking at Itachi with a grateful smile, they passed away the remaining time until dinner comparing notes on their most recent missions.

_**The Next Day**_

Whistling softly to himself as he headed off to the east of the base to train, Ikari was lost in thought as he walked along. He had prepared for this by summoning a couple of two-tailed Kitsune to watch over him to ensure that he wasn't snuck up on or attacked.

Enjoying the rarity of a day off from missions was a luxury he fully intended to take advantage of as they were so few and far between at the moment. Talking with his tenant at the moment, Ikari was discussing the details of being trained in Senjutsu, the pros and cons of the training were what were weighing on his mind at the moment.

'_So the main difference in the way that the Kitsune and the Gama clans teach their summoner how to achieve Sage Mode is that the Kitsune teach it as a way of fighting meditation, while the Gama teach it through being still and gathering it through meditating, right?'_

His kaa-san nodded at this as she smiled before continuing with the impromptu lesson on Senjutsu and _**Sen'nin mōdo**_. _**'That's correct, Ikari-kun. There are some definite benefits to Sage Mode as you will come to discover. The first and one of the best, is that your ninjutsu and genjutsu will be far more powerful due to adding nature chakra to your attacks. The second is that once you have mastered Sage Mode, that when you exit said mode, that your reserves will once again be full. That is a natural side effect of the active meditation and adding nature chakra to your normal chakra. There might even be a way to add my chakra to the mix, but that is something that we will discuss at a much later date. I feel confident and comfortable enough with your ability to use up to two tails of my chakra safely, and it won't be until you can use six tails and maintain control of your emotions that we will talk about trying out such things.'**_

Nodding to himself, he stumbled as he tripped over an opening in the ground, and quickly recovered and shook his head as he looked around. Finally looking down, as he had not seen or felt anyone around, Ikari noticed a narrow set of stairs leading down into the ground at a rather gentle angle. Whistling under his breath, he peered down and saw that there weren't any light sources down below.

As he was looking down, he felt one of the Kitsune brush against his hand, and he spared a second to look and see who it was. The golden fur gave her away as Yuna, one of his personal favorites as far as the Kitsune were concerned. Running a hand through her fur, he pointed towards the opening in front of them. "Can you give me some light and let your nose lead the way for me Yuna?"

Getting a nod in turn, she curled her tails and let some fire natured chakra flow to the tips, creating a pair of living torches. Looking up at her summoner and getting a nod and a smile, she turned and led the way down.

The walls looked like they had been cut with blades of wind, and there were no doors or anything remotely resembling a door frame. They continued on and after a half an hour, Yuna spoke up. **"Ikari-sama, the scent that I'm getting is…unusual to say the least. Until now all I could smell was the earth and stone all around us. Now I smell…the wind, almost like from a mountain top and some sort of avian scent…"**

Nodding in response once again, Ikari looked ahead and saw that there was an opening that led into an area that was much wider and more open than the passageway that they were in. Holding up at the entry, he looked around and saw that there was a massive amount of engraving on the walls and as he stepped into the room and looked closer, he was stunned by the level of detail that was present.

The only thing that he could see was that there were many birds in various poses, each of them birds of prey. Ikari was brought out of his musings by Yuna, who had yipped at him and drew his attention to a pedestal that was artfully carved into the wall directly across from the entryway. Approaching it cautiously, Ikari noticed a rather large scroll that looked eerily familiar to him.

As he looked at it, it occurred to him that this scroll was a summoning scroll. Turning to Yuna, he tilted his head in thought for a moment before meeting her gaze. "Is it possible to hold more than one summon contract as a summoner, Yuna-chan?"

Sitting back on her haunches for the moment, Yuna sighed. **"Technically, yes it is. The hard part about it is that you need both bosses to agree to it. Before I say whether or not Shinibana-sama will even think about agreeing or even considering the possibility, you will need to open the scroll and see exactly what summon the scroll is for."**

Nodding absently as he turned to the scroll, Ikari quickly unfurled it and looked through it. There were only a handful of signatures there and they were so faded as to be illegible. Glancing at it once more, he quickly figured out which summon it was for. "Looks to be for the Washi clan, do you think that Shinibana-sama will go for it?"

Quickly getting over her shock, she rapidly nodded. **"The eagles have always been one of our clan's allies, and I don't foresee any issues with it. You will need to summon her to ask before signing it though."**

Smiling at her, Ikari grabbed the scroll and proceeded to leave the same way they had come. Once they were out of the passage, he turned to look at it only to see solid ground once more. Quirking an eyebrow at the strangeness of it, he ran through the hand seals and slammed his bloody hand into the ground. _**"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"**_

A large cloud of smoke popped into existence and cleared away rapidly. Standing there in front of him was a horse-sized dark blue Kitsune with eight tails waving behind her. "Greetings Shinibana-sama, I have summoned you here for a rather unusual request."

The rather large vixen smirked as she looked down at her clan's summoner, as he had his head bowed out of respect for not only her, but her mother as well. Settling down into place, she laid out in front of him, setting her head down on her paws. **"Greetings to you as well, Ikari-kun and to you as well Yuna. What is this request you have for me?"**

Raising his head and settling down on the ground as well, Ikari held the scroll out in front of himself resting on both of his palms. "While discussing the Senjutsu training with kaa-san this morning, both Yuna-chan and I came across a rather unusual opening in the ground. Deciding to check it out for potential threats, we ran into a large room that was most beautifully engraved with many different birds of prey in quite a few different positions. Yuna here discovered a pedestal and on it I found this scroll that contains the contract for the Washi clan. I then asked her if it was possible to be the summoner for more than one clan, and she told me that it is up to the discretion of the Boss summons for each clan."

Quietly taking a deep breath, he licked his lips as unobtrusively as possible before continuing. "It was my desire to know if you would allow this, as I desire the power and ability to protect all those precious to me, and having another clan to summon would be of no small assistance in accomplishing this."

Tilting her head slightly after getting past the amazement that he had actually found one of their long lost allies summoning contracts, she held the young man's gaze. Looking into his eyes, she could see the courage that it had taken for him to ask this of her, as well as the desire to grow stronger. As she contemplated his request, the vixen tested his patience and resolve by holding her tongue as she considered his request.

Staring at the young ningen, she considered what she knew of him. He was young, honorable to a fault, definitely very strong in spite of his youth, and he never lorded it over others despite his rough beginnings. Smiling to herself she knew that this would prove beneficial to both their clans and she nodded. **"Ikari-kun, I will allow this, as in the time that you have been our summoner you have proven both your honor and loyalty to us. I know that you would not favor one of us over the other. All I ask is that since you will have multiple mates, that you allow your first mate to sign the contract with the Washi clan, your second mate with the Kitsune and your third with whichever she so desires, is this agreeable to you?"**

Exhaling softly, Ikari smiled gently as he nodded his head. "Yes, it is agreeable, although I do have a small favor to ask in behalf of another, I shall wait to do so once the Boss of the Washi is here before us."

Without further prompting, he bit his thumb and signed the scroll after unrolling it. Glancing at his hand to ensure that there was still enough blood on it, he then focused on the eagle's contract as he ran through the summoning process once more. Another large cloud of smoke appeared, and there was a sudden sharp wind that blew it away, accompanied by the shrill cry of a large eagle.

As Soyokaze was gazing around, he took in the two Kitsune in front of him as well as the young human. Turning to Shinibana he nodded his head and greeted her first. **"Greetings to you, might I ask your name? I am Soyokaze, Lord of the Washi clan, and it has been over a thousand years since the last time anyone has summoned me or mine to this plane."**

Grinning widely, the elder of the two Kitsune raised her head and body so that she was sitting on her haunches. **"Greetings to you as well Soyokaze-sama, I am Shinibana, eldest daughter to Miyuki who was the former ruler of the Kitsune. She is still alive and is present in a way. Sōjin Ikari, stand and present yourself." **Turning and facing the young man as she spoke, she drew attention to the human present.

Gulping silently as he stood, Ikari bowed to both of the bosses. "Greetings to the both of you, Soyokaze-sama, Shinibana-sama. My name is Sōjin Ikari, Chunin of Konohagakure no Sato, Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and summoner of the Kitsune clan. It is my hope and desire to be able to summon both of your clans to aid me and mine in our times of need."

Stunned at his frank and honest admission, the eagle looked over to the fox as his eyes widened. Receiving a subtle nod of her head in answer to his unasked question, he then turned his attention to the young man standing before the both of them, still patiently bowing to them. **"Rise young one, and tell me how you came to be the Jinchuriki to the strongest of the Bijuu and also how you came upon our summoning contract. Once I have heard your honest answer I will judge whether you will be allowed the privilege to summon my clan and I."**

Over the next hour or so, they sat there and listened as Ikari answered their questions about how he had become the Jinchuriki to Miyuki, his former parent's rather sickening plans, and all about his new bloodline and clan. They also discussed his training, both past and present, as well as his current situation here in the mist.

Once they had finished, everyone sat there in silence and digested all that they had heard and discussed. Turning to his counterpart, the eagle nodded and then faced the young human once more. **"I have decided that we, the Washi clan, will answer your call and will become summons of the Sōjin clan, alongside our allies of old, the Kitsune clan. If you have need of one of us, you must focus on which clan you wish to call upon, or otherwise you will get both clans. There is a way around this however, at least when you are not in the heat of battle, and that will require the agreement of all three of us. If you agree to this, both Shinibana-sama and I will channel a portion of our chakra and touch one of your forearms. Doing this will form a tattoo of sorts that will eliminate the need for hand seals, as all you will need is the blood to wipe across the mark, and to channel the appropriate level of chakra needed for whomever you wish to summon."**

Sitting down heavily as it hit him that he had two clans he could summon from, the young Sōjin heir thought about what he had just been told. Putting his agreement to their proposal to the side mentally at least, he vocalized the favor that he had been thinking of. "Pardon me for my boldness, Soyokaze-sama, Shinibana-sama; but there is a boon I would ask of you. My life has been blessed by many wonderful people to care for me and train me, and all but one of them have a clan to summon of some type or another."

Here he bowed his head and closed his eyes as he thought about Yuugao-chan and how much she had done and still did for him in his life. Raising his head to look both of the Bosses in the eye, he smiled gently as he thought about what he was about to say before speaking. "The woman who currently represents my clan in the Council is not related to me by blood, but she is closer to me than any in my former family, so much so that I see her as my Onēsan and address her as such. It would be an honor if I could persuade one of you to allow my Onēsan to sign one of your contracts, as I would never allow any other to sign them unless they were my mates or children without your permission."

Absolute silence was his response and he all he could focus on at that particular moment in time was keeping his breathing calm and slow. If he had been looking at the summons there in front of him, he would have been surprised to see the looks of astonishment on their faces.

Swiftly schooling their features, they turned to one another and smiled slightly. After a few more minutes of waiting just to mess with him, they nodded and Soyokaze spoke up. **"Your respectful manner and the esteem in which you hold this woman is very telling, Ikari-san. I only have one question and this will more than likely determine which of our clans will respond if your sister calls upon us. What is her elemental affinity?"**

Looking up and quickly assuming a neutral tone to his face as he did so, Ikari directed his gaze towards the eagle. "Her affinity is to fire, Soyokaze-sama."

Shinibana was up next with her own question. **"If you had to determine where her strengths as a kunoichi are, what would you tell us?"**

Taking a moment, Ikari thought about it and then asked for clarification. "Do you mean specifically or in general what I feel her strengths are?"

She immediately replied, **"Both specifically and in general. Be brutally honest with us so that we can make the best decision possible."**

_**Three Hours Later**_

Immediately upon reaching the base, Ikari sent three of his Kitsune to find his comrades and bring them to the nearest training ground. Once he had arrived there he set up an area large enough to contain what was going to happen and prepared for the other's arrival.

While he waited for them to arrive, he sat down in the lotus position and began to meditate simply to calm his mind and center himself once more, while at the same time ensuring that he had recovered enough chakra to accomplish his goal here today. Five minutes later he had sensed their chakra approaching his position and he stood to greet them while at the same time creating ten clones and positioning them in the spots he had set up before they had arrived.

Once they were in front of him, he nodded to his clones and they ran through the designated hand seals simultaneously, activating the chakra containment and privacy seals. Once they were done, they then transformed into rocks and awaited their creator's next command.

Facing his older ANBU comrades, his friends, his family, Ikari smiled and motioned for Itachi to stand in front of him to his left and Kakashi to stand in a similar location to his right. Clearing his throat he began to speak. "As you all know, I consider each of you to be family of mine each in your own way. Itachi, Kakashi if you would please summon a couple of your summons as both of the clans I am allowed to summon have requested their presence for what will be happening here today."

As he spoke he received surprised nods from the other two men, and he managed to see the veiled look of hurt that passed through his Onēsan's eyes. As the two men sped through the hand seals, Ikari bit both of his thumbs and channeled his chakra to his hands as he swiped the bloody digits across the tattoos that he had on his forearms.

For a moment everyone there was blinded by the smoke as the summons appeared, and then blinked as soon as they were able to see again. Bowing to the Bosses that were present, Ikari turned to his Onēsan and smiled gently at her.

"Yuugao, Onēsan; today has been a wonderful day as I have gained yet another powerful ally, both for my clan as well as for Konoha. I have long wished to repay you in some form or fashion for the care and affection you have shown me growing up, much as I have done for Kakashi and Itachi. That day is today, and I have just the gift to give you. After several hours of questions given to me by Shinibana-sama and Soyokaze-sama, I will be granting you something that I know that you have long desired."

Turning around and bowing once more to the Boss of the Washi clan, as he stood back up he held out his hands and received the scroll that held the summoning contract for the eagles. Once more he faced his adopted siblings and smiled. "Uzuki Yuugao, you have been like a sister to me for several years. You have always been there for me, whether it was to scold me for my foolishness, to comfort me when I was suffering and taught me the ways of the sword. I have been authorized to allow you the privilege of becoming the secondary summoner of the Washi clan, as you are the only member of my family who doesn't have a clan to call upon when you are in need."

Yuugao was in shock at that moment. Pure, unadulterated shock, as she finally wrapped her head around what Ikari was offering to her. Hitting her knees was enough to bring her out of it, and she looked up at her Otōto. "You're serious about this? This isn't a joke or a prank, Otōto?"

Shaking his head, Ikari knelt in front of her as he unrolled the scroll. "I would never pull a prank that would be as hurtful as this would be, Onēsan. I need you to bite your thumb and sign your name in blood, then place that hand next to your name leaving a bloody print of your hand. Then the hand seals are as follows: I, Inu, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji, and slam your chakra filled hand against the ground."

Going through the motions as he called them out, she shakily slammed her palm into the ground and heard another summon pop into place in front of her. Opening her eyes, she saw a much smaller eagle blinking up at her. **"Hello there, are you the one who summoned me here? My name is Shiokaze, what's your name?"**

Reaching out to touch the young summon, she steadied herself as she gently stroked the feathers on her head. Coming to her senses, she smiled gently at the young bird as she cleared her throat. "My name is Uzuki Yuugao, young Shiokaze, and yes I am one of your clan's newest summoners. It is an honor to meet you and I hope to work with you in the future." Turning to Ikari she smiled even wider even as her eyes began to tear up. Bowing her head in gratitude, she then looked to Soyokaze and Shinibana and bowed once more.

"My deepest gratitude and thanks belong to both of you, Soyokaze-sama, Shinibana-sama. I promise you that I will always remember this day for as long as I live." Standing up, she held out her arm and motioned for her summon to join her. As the group watched Shiokaze flap her wings and take to the air so that she could take a perch with her summoner, Ikari chuckled as he took in her excitement and awe.

Clearing his throat, the Washi clan leader spoke up at this point in time. **"Uzuki-san, aside from our visual acuity which will assist you in reconnaissance and our ability to deliver messages, I believe that our greatest ability will lie in collaborative jutsu, since our primary affinity is to the wind, which can enhance your fire techniques. Once you are at home again, I expect the both of you to call upon us so that we can work together to find the best ways of approaching this. Until we are needed again, we will take our leave."**

Here he paused for a moment, giving a nod of his head to Kakashi's ninken and Itachi's crows, who all bowed to him, and a slight bow to Shinibana who returned it. Taking one more look at his summoners, he spoke one last time. **"It would appear that fortune has smiled once more upon my clan and given us strong summoners. I look forward to working with you, farewell for now."**

Once he was done speaking he disappeared, starting a chain reaction with the summons popping out. After they were all gone Ikari gave a signal which told his clones that they were done and they transformed back, released the seals and then dispelled themselves. Ikari was then promptly blind-sided by Yuugao, who almost tackled him in a hug, mumbling her thanks over and over again.

Gently rubbing her back as he smiled and congratulated her softly as he looked up at the other two members of his team, from whom he was sure that he would never hear the end of this. Shrugging mentally, he figured that he could grin and bear it, especially since it concerned his Onēsan.

Once she was through thanking him she let go of him and wiped her eyes. "It means a lot to me that you would do something like this for me Ikari-kun. I appreciate this more than I could possibly tell you, and it makes me quite proud to be your Onēsan, Otōto."

Smiling up at her, he simply nodded and led the way back to the base. "I look up to each of you as my family, each of you in your own way. Itachi is like a favorite cousin, who is patient and considerate, teaching me the things that I need to succeed in life. Kakashi is like my perverted Aniki, who is humorous and keeps me on my toes while showing me how to have fun in life. Then there is you, Yuugao-chan, who is like the Onēsan I have never had, who is gentle and caring, always there to pick me up when I'm down or not feeling well. That is how I view each of you in my life, and I thank Kami every day for blessing me with each of you."

Everyone was chuckling as they entered the base, and it was quite relaxing to know that their already close bonds had become even closer and more tightly knit. They spent the rest of that day in fairly close quarters, just enjoying the break from the war and preparing for the next few months as they would need to be on top of their game to make it through to go back home once more.

_**Three Months Later, Konoha**_

Stretching as he finished dispelling the last of his clones doing paperwork, Hiruzen frowned as he went through the memories and walked over to a particular stack of and rifled through it. Once he had gotten to the one in particular that he had been looking for, he pulled it out and read through it.

Sighing to himself, he rolled up the scroll and put it into a safe that only he knew about. It would seem that they were still insistent on going through with their goal of having Naruto marry his sisters, even though technically he didn't exist any longer.

Lighting his pipe and sitting back in his chair, the Hokage chuckled to himself as he thought about how things were going to go down, once they were back and everything went wrong with their plans. Then there was also the look that would be on Jiraiya's face when the young man wouldn't be willing or able to sign the Toad contract, all because of their treatment and abandonment of the boy. _'This is going to be a sight to see, especially if Ikari-kun is able to finish his __**Fūjin no Mai**__, especially since it doesn't require seals so they can't complain that he has stolen their clan technique.'_

Shaking his head as he envisioned what that match would be like, he rose from his seat and left his office chuckling as he thought about what was going to happen when those six idiots simply decided to drop in and try to claim him as kin. Frowning as he thought about who he was going to have replace him as the Hokage in a few years, he exhaled a rather impressive smoke ring.

There was no chance in hell that he would allow Minato to return and take the position back, and he definitely wasn't going to allow Jiraiya or Tsunade the opportunity either. That narrowed his options down to two people at the current moment in time, and that was Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi. Even he would be the first to admit that he was leaning towards the Uchiha, especially given his loyalty to the village and his ability to bring out the best in those around him.

Kakashi on the other hand, well he was the lesser of the two choices considering the fact that unless it was for a mission he was habitually late, always had his nose stuck in one of the orange books, and was more than just a little bit on the lazy side. If it came down to it, Hiruzen knew that he could be trusted to fulfill the position; it was just that he was his absolute last choice if all else failed. Sighing once more he decided to visit the Ichiraku's and take in a couple bowls of miso ramen before heading home and retiring for the night. He knew that there would still be time to decide which of them would be best for the job later.

**A/N: So he's finally made a name for himself, and is growing in his skills and abilities, while the next chapter will finish this particular arc, and lead up to the confrontation arc. Please remember that I would like to hear from you readers about who you would rather see be the third and final wife for him.**

**As always please read and review! **

_**Idaina Bakuhatsu Hyōei bunshin**_ – Great Exploding Ice Shadow Clones

_**Shakuton: Shakunetsu no Ryū Hinotama**_ – Scorch Style: Scorching Dragon Fireballs

_**Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū**_ – Seven Swordsmen of the Mist

_**Chi no Akuma Kitsune**_ – The Bloody Demon Fox

_**Fūjin no Mai**_ – Dance of the Wind God


	5. Chapter 4: The Civil War in Kiri Part II

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

**A/N: So far the poll for who will be the third and final spouse is as follows:**

**Fem Gaara – 5**

**Tenten – 9**

**Tsuchi Kin – 6**

**Tenten/Kin – 3**

**Karin – 3**

**Samui - 6**

**Matsuri – 1**

**Yugito - 1**

**Please keep in mind that I will leave this poll open to vote until the end of the Wave arc, which will be in 2-3 chapters, so please read, review, and throw your vote out there, even if it's for someone that you don't see listed and if you can give me a logical reason behind it, I might go for someone unusual or rarely paired with him. ALSO, I may be considering a fourth wife, but that is it! This story will have its romantic moments I will not however, turn this story into a massive harem or a huge smut story. I will be doing my level best to keep things moving, and will allow those who went overboard on their vote requests to go back and recast their votes so as to suggest one to two women that they feel would best complement the way I have written Ikari. (Naruto) ON WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 4: Civil War in Kiri Part II

Eleven year old Sōjin Ikari stretched as he woke up and recalled what was going on today. Thinking back over the last year and all they had accomplished, and also how much he missed being home. Gently fingering the latest scroll from home, he sighed and got up out of bed. Now wasn't the time to think about matters at home and daydream about his betrothed.

Going about his morning business, he jogged out of the tent, limbering up his muscles as he headed to the headquarters tent for the briefing. Calming his thoughts as he slowed to a walk, he swept aside the door to the tent and managed to make his way towards the briefing room, where he greeted several other ninja before approaching his teammates.

Getting various nods and mumbled greetings, Ikari took a seat nearby and waited for the briefing to begin. Looking around the room, he met the gaze of Ameyuri and Chojuro and gave each of them a nod and a grin, which was returned rather quickly. Just as he was about to wave them over, he watched as both Ao and Mei walked through the door and immediately headed to the front of the room.

Gazing out at all the teams and the team leader that had gathered there, Terumi Mei smiled internally. She knew that this would be the determining battle that would decide the outcome of the civil war. Looking over to Ao, she nodded once to let him know to start the briefing. "All of you gather around the map and listen up! This battle should be the one that determines our fate. Whether we are ready or not, Yagura has decided to try and finish us off in one fell swoop. We will be splitting up into two groups. The first group will be under the command of Terumi Mei, and the team leaders will be Ringo Ameyuri, Sōjin Ikari, and Uchiha Itachi. Their objective will be to locate and eliminate Yagura and any of his guards."

Taking a moment to look at each of them and get acknowledgement, Ao then returned to the briefing. "The second group will be under my command, and the team leaders there will be Uzuki Yuugao, Chojuro and Hatake Kakashi. Our objective will be two-fold: the first objective will be to clear a path for the first group so that they can get in close and accomplish their task, and the second will be to hold the line and keep the enemy off their backs. Any questions?"

Looking out at the room and seeing eager looks on everyone's faces and many shaking heads, Ao grinned in a grim manner and looked to Mei. Taking a step or two forward, she gazed around the room at everyone and smirked. "We will head for the walls of Kirigakure in mere hours. I am pleased with how far we've come, and just how far we will go is dependent on all of you. Our allies have been a huge boost to our efforts and have opened our eyes to the realities of the bonds that we should be forging, both here in our home as well as abroad with the other nations. Whether we have a Kekkei Genkai or not, Ninja or civilian, we are all human and deserve to live and to love, and we will prove this with our victory today!"

As the cheers began, Ikari looked over to Mei and then toward Ameyuri and nodded at both of them before motioning for Itachi to follow him. As they exited the tent, he could feel the older man's gaze fall upon him and he tilted his head as he spoke. "What is it senpai?"

Thinking as they walked towards the gate, Itachi sighed and then quickened his stride so that he was even with Ikari. "Are you certain that you are ready for this Ikari-kun?"

Frowning ever so slightly, Ikari let his shoulders sag just a little before turning his head to look at him. "Am I certain? No, no I'm not. The problem is that the longer we take to prepare, the more innocents there are that are hurt or killed, and that doesn't sit well with me at all Itachi-senpai."

Nodding as he could understand the young man's point of view, Itachi smiled slightly as they reached their destination just outside the walls of the base. "I understand, Ikari. Know that we will be there with you and you are not fighting alone."

Giving the Uchiha a simple smile, Ikari thanked him. "I am going to spend some time meditating, come and get me in a couple of hours, ne?"

Ruffling the young man's hair, Itachi nodded to him and returned his smile with a slight upturn of his own lips. Turning away he walked back to camp and went in search of the others.

_**Several Hours Later**_

There were ten of them gathered and waiting for the signal to move in and remove Yagura from the picture. Itachi had summoned a couple of crows who were currently flying overhead, while Ikari had summoned a couple of four tailed Kitsune who were close by keeping a watch for any enemies that would try to sneak up on them. Ikari and Ameyuri were both sitting down back to back, meditating, while everyone else was sitting around waiting for the other team to clear the way.

Kakashi had teamed up with Ao, and they were currently clearing out the guards at the gate. Slipping it open, he turned and quirked an eyebrow at Ao, only to receive a shake of the head and sign language to hold off until they had disabled the main body of Shinobi in the town. Agreeing quickly, they made their way back to the other members of the team and signaled them to pull out the seal scrolls that Ikari had prepped for this very purpose.

In his studies of fuinjutsu Ikari had learned how to modify certain types of tags in many different ways. He could change them so that they could unleash jutsu, senbon, kunai, even many different types of poison. After many weeks of study, as well as trial and error, he had even managed to get some of the weapons tags to be unleashed in specific directions.

The specific seals that he had given Kakashi were of a unique design all his own, in that they contained a modified Fuuton jutsu that was unleashed after a relatively simple to use and counter sleeping agent was dispersed. The agent itself worked almost instantly upon contact with any of the mucous membranes around the nose, ears and eyes. The jutsu that he used was a very low-powered _**Fuuton: Daitoppa**_, that was released as the agent burst into the air, allowing a much wider spread of the near invisible powder than would normally be permissible.

Breaking up into four smaller squads, Kakashi quickly whispered directions to the other three people that he handed out seals to, refreshing their memories on placement, timing, and avoidance of the agent. Moving out into the early morning darkness, Kakashi and Ao quickly located one of the few massive groups of the enemy's forces and quickly got to work. Ten minutes later, everyone in their task force regrouped and readied themselves. Giving a quick glance around Ao nodded at Kakashi who gave a short countdown and they all activated their portion of the tags.

One of the most complicated portions of these particular seal tags was the work that had not only incorporated the jutsu portion as well as the directional part of the seal, as the seal in its entirety was nothing short of a masterpiece. It also boasted a chakra conversion seal which converted anyone's normal chakra into wind natured chakra, a very dilute form of the explosive seal that was needed to propel the sleeping agent, but it also included a very localized silencing seal that eliminated the noise, and managed to keep the jutsu down to where it simply felt like a quick but gentle breeze.

Waiting about five minutes, Ao nodded to Chojuro to give the others the signal as it was now time to strike. Chojuro's smile was enough to give even Kakashi the shivers, seeing the sharp-toothed man grin from ear-to-ear like he just had. Focusing on his chakra network, he quickly flared it once, twice, paused for three seconds and then flared it a third time.

_**Outside the City Gates**_

Upon receiving the signal, Ikari stood and assisted Ameyuri in standing, while nodding to everyone else that was there. "It's time Mei-san, please lead the way." Receiving a short nod and a slight smile, they quickly headed for the tower and hopefully to end this war. Once they had reached the gates, they ran into one of the others that had gone on ahead with Kakashi who nodded to them and pointed the way before disappearing to regroup with the rest of his team. As they moved towards their target they took down any that they came across with a thrown kunai or shuriken, doing their level best to preserve as much of their chakra for the upcoming confrontation with Yagura.

They arrived at their destination about five minutes later, and all but Ameyuri, Itachi, Mei and Ikari broke off and headed out to secure the perimeter while the others waited for them to accomplish that portion of their mission. As soon as they had cleared out any resistance, Mei led the way into the tower, followed by Ikari, Ameyuri, and then Itachi.

Once they reached the top and were standing outside the Kage's office, Ikari held up a hand and pulled a brush and ink out of one of the seals that he had on his wrist. Rapidly he painted a seal on the door with all the grace and precision of a master artist. After he had finished and sealed away the tools, he then gestured for Mei to continue.

Opening the doors they all entered and stood in the Mizukage's office, with Mei in the center and the other three arranged in a semicircle behind her. Ikari closed the door, and took a step back so that he couldn't be easily seen and prepared to erect the seal barrier that he had personally designed.

The seal, _**Arashi Yaei Shōheki**_, was designed to completely enclose an area, whether interior or exterior in nature, and seal it off with an impassible barrier made up of wind and lightning nature chakra. In essence, once he activated it, nobody and nothing would be able to enter or exit the enclosed space until after he deactivated it or was killed. The best part is that any jutsu that hit it, regardless of whether from inside or outside, only served to strengthen the barrier as it absorbed the chakra from them.

So this barrier was ideal for facing off against a jinchuriki, and Ikari was waiting for the signal from Mei as to when to set it off. He spent the next minute or two observing Yagura, who had pale white-blonde hair, pinkish eyes, and was rather short in stature. "Terumi Mei, so have you grown desperate enough that you would try to assault me here in my stronghold? No matter, I'm quite certain that as we speak your rebels are getting mopped up by my forces."

Smirking wildly at the Mizukage, Mei chuckled lightly as she gave Ikari the signal he had been waiting for. Flashing through the hand seals with a speed that most Jonin would drool over, he activated the technique and the barrier quickly arose in place.

A raised eyebrow was Yagura's only response as he examined the white and blue shimmering barrier of chakra. "Interesting, this would appear to be a barrier seal, very impressive work for one so young." Turning his attention back to Mei, he chuckled in a low tone of voice. "I'm guessing that you won't be willing to back down and turn yourself in to face judgment…"

Scoffing aloud at his comment, Mei's face changed almost instantly from a smirk to an angry scowl. "When that judgment would be my death simply because I was born with a Kekkei Genkai? You're clearly losing your grip on reality if you think that I would just rollover and take something like that. Now then, shall we just get down to business?"

His features settling into a grim scowl, he slowly stood and reached behind his back for his staff. Walking calmly and coolly around his desk, Yagura stood in front of her and assessed her for a moment. "As you wish Mei-san, if you're that eager to die, then I will willingly oblige each of you in this."

As the two of them were talking, Ikari activated his dojutsu and was waiting for the right time to utilize his genjutsu against his target. While he was observing their target, he got a feeling in his gut that not everything was as it seemed. Getting Itachi's attention, he flashed a message to him with hand signs. _"Senpai, target may be under a genjutsu. No proof, but it might be advisable to check out."_

His eyes narrowing slightly, Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and looked over the current Mizukage. While unable to see the chakra network like the Byakugan did, he was able to determine the flow and effect of chakra, thus being able to copy jutsu and predict movements as well as determining whether a target was under the effects of a ninjutsu or genjutsu. It was due to his many years of experience that he was able to detect the very subtle and almost invisible threads that denoted the usage of a highly advanced genjutsu on the jinchuriki Mizukage.

Nodding to himself, he continued to gaze at Yagura as he signaled back to Ikari. "_Confirmed, the Mizukage is indeed under a genjutsu, highly advanced and almost impossible to detect or remove. Continue with our primary objective and eliminate; strike to kill not capture."_

Getting into his kenjutsu stance, Ikari nodded and turned his full attention to Yagura. Clearing his mind and focusing on the battle to come, he nodded to Mei who began the attack. Ripping through hand seals with great speed, she called out the name of her attack, "_**Yoton: Yōgan Ryū**_," and then inhaling and pushing her breath out forcefully, she unleashed a dragon formed out of lava that rushed at her target.

Grimacing, Yagura whipped his staff out in front of him and started to spin it at a rapid pace with one hand, while forming one-handed seals with the other. "_**Suiton: Mizu no Tate**_," was all that they heard as watched him exhale out a stream of water that merged with the spinning staff in front of him.

Looking over to Ameyuri, he nodded to her and then to the pool of water at the Mizukage's feet. Getting the hint, she grinned madly and channeled her chakra through her swords for this attack. "_**Raiton: Inazuma-kyū**_," was all that she said as she spun her swords in a circle in front of her, which allowed her to shape a blue ball of lightning in front of her. Moments later she tapped the ball upwards with her off-hand, and then slammed it forward with a slap from the flat of her blade in her main hand.

All he could do at the moment was watch as the battle evolved and adapt to its ebb and flow. He watched as the water shield caused the dragon to hiss and then disappear, and then saw the ball of lightning strike the pool of water, shocking the Mizukage into dropping his jutsu. It was at this point that he decided that now was the best time to jump in and try to take advantage of him while his guard was down and he was distracted.

Wielding a single sword in his hands, he leapt forward and swung his blade diagonally from above his head on the right to strike at Yagura. At the last possible second the Sanbi jinchuriki managed to deflect his blade with his staff and locked it in place, where they struggled to push the other off balance.

Shifting his stance ever so slightly, Ikari was in a better position to hold his blade in one hand, letting go with his off-hand, and started to run through one handed seals. Finishing on a modified Tora, he brought his hand up to his mouth as he called out his first jutsu. "_**Shakuton:**_ _**Yari Shōkyaku**_."

Narrowing his eyes at the younger man who apparently had a bloodline similar to Terumi Mei, the elder of the two jinchuriki disengaged their weapons just in time to dodge the worst of the damage that would have been done from the fiery spear that blossomed forth from the young man's mouth, but not quickly enough to escape completely undamaged. As he stepped back and resumed a ready position, he quickly glanced down at his left shoulder to see a shallow but long cut that went through his outer robes. Looking back up at the Kyuubi jinchuriki, he glared as he spoke in a low tone. "You are the first person in many years to have done such damage to me, and for that you will die in a most painful and slow manner."

_**Konoha**_

Setsuki shivered as she awoke from her restless slumber, and curled up around the stuffed fox plushy that her betrothed had given her before he left. Inhaling the faint scent that it had of him, she smiled as she thought about the last letter that he had sent her telling her that he would be home before she knew it and not to worry about him since he was in good company.

Shaking her head as she knew that that would be the absolute last thing she would ever rid herself of, was her worry for him. She knew that once she became a kunoichi that he would worry about her just as much, and that once she had received her new bloodline that he would be taking over a huge portion of her training to ensure that she was able to defend herself.

Stretching as she awoke, she got out of bed and threw on her robe before heading downstairs to the dining room. There was nothing she loved more than the freedom she had on the weekends to stay in her future home, and the young Uchiha knew that the housekeeper that they had hired enjoyed working for the both of them. With a smile on her face, she greeted Mika warmly. "Ohayo Mika-oba-san, how are you this morning?"

Without turning around the older woman smiled and waved as she finished cooking for the two of them. "Ohayo, Suki-chan I am doing quite well this morning. Did you sleep well last night? You've been rather restless the last few times you've been here." Turning around and serving up the pancakes that she had been making, along with setting some tamagoyaki on the table, she smiled at the young lady and shooed her to sit at the table.

Blushing as she sat down, she nodded and then cleared her throat. "Hai Oba-san, I did sleep fairly well last night, but…" She frowned as she got quiet for a moment and looked down at her hands.

Picking up on the silence from her young charge, Mika sat next to her and grabbed the young girl's hands in her own. "I'm guessing it has to do with your young man and your worries for him, am I right?"

Getting a nod in response, Setsuki looked up at her and squeezed their housekeeper's hands. "The feeling I got this morning as I woke was that he was in grave danger, and I can't help but wonder if he will be alright…"

Gently returning her squeeze, Mika sighed as she let go with one of her hands and rubbed her charge's shoulders and upper back. "It's times like these where all we can do is pray for our loved ones and keep our chin up, making sure to do our best to keep faith in them that they will return to us alive and whole. Trust me when I tell you that it was the same for me with both my father as well as my husband, and it will be the same for your young man once you are out there accomplishing missions."

Smiling gently at her, she then patted her hand and motioned towards the food. "Now let's not let the food I have prepared go to waste, shall we?"

_**Kirigakure no Sato, Mizu no Kuni**_

Having engaged the Mizukage in a heated exchange of blows with his swords versus the Sanbi jinchuriki's staff for the better part of a half an hour, Ikari had to take a step back and take a breather, which was much needed considering the fact that the four of them had been going at it hammer and tongs for the better part of two hours before this last thirty minute stretch. Signaling to Ameyuri to step in, he made the mistake of taking his eyes off his opponent for just a moment, and that was when the elder of the two jinchuriki struck.

Sliding his hands to the base of his staff, Yagura managed to pull and twist his staff towards him in such a manner that the hook portion of his staff caught the young man's blades and the suddenness of his move not only caught him off guard, it snapped his blades leaving him defenseless for a moment.

Caught off balance, Ikari struggled to regain it and attempted to throw himself backwards and ended up being assisted in his desperate attempt by a blow from the staff, which caught him in a glancing manner in the chest, fracturing two of his ribs and sending him flying.

By virtue of being the closest to him, Mei jumped after him and managed to keep him from flying into the barrier, while both Itachi and Ameyuri managed to give them cover by engaging Yagura and keeping him busy, allowing for Ikari to have the time he needed to get back on his feet. Mei gave him a once over, and after assuring her that all he had were a couple of flesh wounds, returned her attention to the battle in front of them.

Of the three combatants that were currently engaged in a rather vicious melee, Itachi was the least wounded, having been waiting for the right moment to engage. Ameyuri was slightly worse off, having been jumping in here and there to catch Yagura off guard to either get a hit in or distract him so that one of the others could get one in.

The Mizukage though was by far in the worst shape of them all. Having realized that the barrier was an unknown variable in this battle, he knew that he couldn't risk going all out with his bijuu cloak, as that had always made him grow huge in stature. The worst thing is that with his foe's stellar teamwork, the Sanbi, Isobu, was hard-pressed to give him any of its chakra beyond what was needed to keep his wounds healed.

With a loud roar, Yagura threw all his strength behind throwing back his two attackers, and after clearing a small area around him, allowed a deep ocean blue cloak of chakra to form around him as well as one chakra tail starting to form. Hitting his knees for a moment, he started to stand back up and started to run through hand seals even faster than before. "_**Suiton: Idaina suirō**_!"

Upon hearing the jutsu, Ikari threw his hands together and ran through the hand seals that he needed, all the while focusing inwards. He didn't watch as their enemy directed his chakra to the water beneath him or as it gathered into a super-condensed form and roared aloud to the heavens as it took the shape of a dragon. No his focus was completely on where his allies were and on increasing the speed of his hands to be as quick as humanly possible. Hitting the last one, he immediately bellowed out a warning to his allies, and unleashed a surge of his chakra into the water around them.

"_**Hyouton: Tōketsu Hakai no Yari**_," was whispered as he took a knee and slammed his hands down and channeled his chakra into the area in front of him, watching as spears formed from the water and hardened, freezing into ice, as they grew in number forming lines that raced towards the Mizukage and his jutsu.

The two jutsu collided halfway between the two jinchuriki, and while the dragon was frozen in place and shattered, the spears kept on heading towards the jinchuriki of the Sanbi. Maintaining his focus on the jutsu so that he could attempt to end this here and now, Ikari bellowed one last time to get his allies out of the way. "ITACHI, AMEYURI GET OUT OF THERE **NOW**!"

Barely moving out of the way in time, Itachi and Ameyuri stood well back and watched as the spears raced towards Yagura and caught him off guard, slicing into his legs and hands. Charging forward, Ameyuri and Mei both ran in and took advantage of his wounds. Ameyuri held her blades to his throat crossed in front of him, while Mei slapped two seals on him; one was a chakra suppression seal that would cut him off from both his own chakra as well as his bijuu chakra, and the second seal which knocked him out and would keep him unconscious until they released the seal.

Itachi made his way over to Ikari and sat down heavily next to the younger man. "Are you well Ikari?"

Shaking his head to clear it momentarily, Ikari turned and looked to the Uchiha. "Nothing wrong with me that a nice large meal and a good night's rest can't cure, but I would prefer to get looked over by a medic, just to make sure I'm not underestimating the damage I took." Sighing as he realized that he no longer had his blades, he bowed his head for a moment and then raised it once more to his teacher.

Grinning sadly, he grabbed the hilts to his blades and sighed once more as he looked up at Itachi. "How the hell am I going to explain this to Yuugao?"

_**The Next Day, Village Square in Kiri**_

The very next day the four ninja from Konoha stood around a bound and unconscious Yagura, and they themselves were standing behind Mei, who had Ameyuri and Chojuro to her left and Ao to her right. They were simply waiting for noon to start off with the meeting that she had planned which would end with the public execution of Yagura.

Glancing at the clock that was built in to the Kage tower, she noticed that it was time to begin, and taking a couple of steps forward, she cleared her throat and began to speak. "Shinobi, kunoichi, and civilians of Kiri, my name is Terumi Mei, a Jonin kunoichi of Kiri, and today I have a momentous announcement for all of you. The Civil war which has plagued our land for so many years is finally over, and the Yondaime Mizukage has been apprehended for war crimes as outlined in our original village charter. The penalty for said crimes is death, and before the day is out the sentence will be carried out by one of our Seven Swordsmen, Ringo Ameyuri."

Taking a step to the side and motioning for the other four to bring Yagura forward, which Ikari and Itachi did by grabbing him under the arms and walking forward, and stopping just behind where Mei was standing, resting him on his knees and keeping a hand on his shoulders.

The crowd as a whole seemed to emit an aura of relief and joy that the whole war was over and done with, and it would seem that there were only a very few holdouts who seemed to endorse the whole ideology behind Yagura's bloody reign while he was Mizukage. The whole thing seemed to have both Ikari and Itachi on edge, which was just as well for the both of them seeing as how they had been keeping watch over the Sanbi jinchuriki as a precaution.

It was at this point in time that several members of the Village Council came forward and what would appear to be their designated spokesperson asked a couple of rather forward as well as pointed questions. "Just who would you replace him with then; to ensure that what has happened here does not make a return, yourself, or one of these other Nin standing beside you? What are your thoughts and plans on this matter?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Mei sighed as she gathered her thoughts before responding. "First and foremost I am still a Jonin of Kiri, and that is one thing that I have always been, despite fighting against the Yondaime Mizukage. Could I step up and take over…most assuredly yes, as I am a Kage level kunoichi. Will I? The answer to that is a firm and resounding no, because that would go against everything me and the rest of those who have been fighting for the simple right and privilege of being able to live have fought for. If I were asked to take over as the Godaime Mizukage by those who have the right to do so, then I would more than likely step up and take the job and do the best I know how to do to heal our wounds, both physical and metaphorical."

Standing tall, her shoulders back and her gaze held level, Terumi Mei looked every bit the firm and unyielding leader she had had to be to pull off a rebellion. The current spokesperson, one Hoshigaki Izumo, looked her over with a critical eye before turning back to the other members of the Council and holding a brief conference. They spent about ten minutes going back and forth while every so often one or another of them would gaze at her or one of the others standing tall around her. Finally getting a majority of them to concur with him, Izumo turned and stared her in the eye for a moment.

Clearing his throat, he took a couple of steps towards her and turned to face the crowd while standing next to her. "People of Kiri, upon discussing our options and weighing them carefully, we have decided that our Godaime Mizukage will be Terumi Mei! Her coronation will occur in one week's time at the Mizukage Tower at noon and I expect each and every one of you to be there!"

Once he had finished speaking a loud cheer broke out, and he turned to face Mei and chuckled as he did so. Extending a hand to her, he shook her much smaller hand in his own and grinned widely at her. Leaning in he spoke softly in her ear for a moment, and then pulled back and turned to leave.

Chuckling at the blush on her face as well as the look of shock, Ikari nudged her slightly in the back to draw her attention back to the here and now. Shaking her head to clear it, she motioned Ameyuri to come forward and stand next to her. Turning her head for a moment and looking at Ikari, she nodded ever so slightly and he summoned a shadow clone who then transformed into a chopping block.

Positioning the former Mizukage so that his neck was set up for the stroke, he and Itachi took a half step back and maintained his position. Stepping forward and drawing one of her blades, Ringo Ameyuri slowly raised it above her head, and in a swift blur of motion, swung her blade downward and through his neck in one clean cut. It wasn't until the clone dispelled that his head even moved, only to detach from his shoulders, such was the speed of her stroke.

Taking a cloth from a pocket, she wiped the blood off her blade and sheathed it. She then turned and bowed to Mei, afterward she raised her head with a grin as she stood back up. "The task is done Mizukage-sama. What are your orders?"

Taking along look at each of them, Mei gently smiled and bowed to the group as a whole. "My orders for now are to rest and recover for now. If you four wouldn't mind staying until my coronation, I should be able to send you on your way back home with an alliance treaty to have your Hokage look over and sign."

Getting nods from each of them she smiled once more in gratitude. "In that case, you are all more than welcome to stay at my family's compound here in the village. I sealed it up before having to leave Kiri in the middle of the night, and it would be an honor to provide for you while you are here." With that done the four of them motioned for her to lead on, and fell in behind her.

_**One Week Later, Office of the Mizukage**_

The four Konoha shinobi stood before the newest Mizukage and offered her their sincere congratulations, as well as their thanks for the gifts that they had received as payment. For Itachi and Kakashi it had been one favor redeemable at a later date, for Yuugao it was a couple of scrolls on a new sword style that she would be able to learn.

Ikari came away with the greatest of hauls though, as he had been able to go through the scrolls that they had found that had once belonged to the Yuki clan and he had managed to copy down over thirty new jutsu that he would be able to use, ranging from D-rank to A-rank. He had also received a new sword made in the same style as the _**Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū**_, seeing as how Mei, Ameyuri and Chojuro felt that it was the least they could do for him since his own blades had been broken during the final battle with Yagura. Ikari was quite thankful that his sword style could be used with either single or dual blades since he now had the single sword instead of dual blades.

His new blade was a four and a half foot long katana, that was forged from the remains of his swords and they had fused some of the same metal used in the_**Kubikiribōchō**_, which granted his blade a limited form of regrowth if it were ever broken. As he was involved in the forging of his new weapon, he had ensured that it had chakra-absorbing, chakra-storing, chakra-releasing, hardening, and blood seals engraved into the blade as well as a sharpening seal. These seals would ensure that this blade would be able to be handed down through the generations as a family heirloom.

The finished weapon was simple elegance at its finest, as the young man had asked for. The sheath was black with his clan symbol on either side, one side in an icy blue, while the other was done in a fiery orange and red. The hilt was wrapped in black ray skin with an emerald green tassel, while the tsuba was made of polished bronze set in the symbol of his clan. The blade was a bit wider than most others of its kind, being almost four inches in width; the color itself was unique as it was a pale silver-blue with blood red flames that ran along the length of the blade. The name he had given the blade was engraved on the blade near the tsuba, and was as unique as the person who had helped forge the sword: _**Hi to Kōri**_.

Standing up in front of them, Mei bowed deeply to each of them. "It is with my deepest gratitude and thanks that I send you off with this treaty. Each of you has done far more than expected of you and all for a country and village not your own, it is highly commendable and I thank you on behalf of my people. I would ask a favor of you, and it is entirely up to you whether you accept it. What I ask of you is that if you run across any missing-nin that you give them a scroll with my seal on it, requesting that they return home to Kiri, and tell them that any crimes they may have committed will be forgiven if at all possible once they return."

This took all four of them by surprise as they hadn't expected anything like this. Raising a privacy barrier, Ikari turned to his older compatriots and they discussed this at length for about ten minutes. Once they had reached an accord, he lowered the barrier and stepped forward. "On behalf of my teammates and I, we will accept the request and ask for the scroll so that we may accomplish your request."

Reaching into her desk, she quickly thumbed through a number of scrolls and grabbed the appropriate one. Unrolling it and glancing over it, she signed it and stamped it with her seal, and then re-rolled it and tied a blue ribbon around it. Handing it off to the young man in front of her, she smiled as she watched him seal into an intricate looking seal that was tattooed on his wrist.

They bowed once more, and then shunshined out of her office and appeared outside the main gate to Kiri. Checking their gear once more to ensure that they had everything, they then leapt into the trees and headed for home.

_**One Week Later, Konoha **_

After having had a rather rough ride back to the mainland, the four shinobi had maintained a rather rapid pace back to Konoha. They were all eager to take some well-deserved time off, and train up their skills without having to constantly look over their shoulders for an enemy. Not that they would ever come close to being complacent, it would just be much easier on their nerves being at home to do so.

Izumo and Kotetsu were standing around at the gate joking around about how life was so very boring and how nothing interesting ever happened while they were on duty, when they saw four figures leaping through the trees towards them. Watching them closely, Kotetsu was the first to recognize them and relaxed as they approached the gate. "It's been a while since we've seen you guys, welcome home!"

Getting four nods in return, they all showed their ID and then headed off for the Hokage's Tower. Taking it at a slow easy pace, Ikari looked around and smiled beneath his mask. Even though there weren't many of them, it always warmed his heart to know that he was doing his part in helping keep his precious ones safe simply by putting his life on the line. The four of them all looked to each other and shrugged as they approached the tower, and as one they jumped up and stuck their landing against the wall of the tower and ran up the vertical surface, jumping through the window one right after another. Each of them landed and knelt in front of the Hokage, bowing their heads as they did so.

"Mission accomplished Hokage-sama. The Godaime Mizukage sends her greetings and an offer to create an alliance between our two countries." Kakashi stood and offered up the scroll to Hiruzen as he spoke, then returned to his former position and waited with the rest of his team for their new orders.

Nodding in thanks, Sarutobi opened the scroll and read through it, making various noises of agreement here and there as he looked it over. Rolling up the scroll, he steepled his fingers together in front of his face, smiling gently at his ANBU. "Very well done, well done indeed. I will give you each three months leave, which I expect each of you to enjoy to the fullest. Before I let you all depart, there are two things that I need to go over with you. The first," here he paused and reached behind him to grab a bingo book, "is that apparently your status has been upgraded in the Bingo Book."

With that said, he tossed the book to Ikari, who opened it up to the book-marked page while his teammates gathered around him.

**ALIAS: **_**Chi no Akuma Kitsune, Ryūketsu no Akuma no Arashi**_

**NAME: **_**Unknown**_

**AGE:** _**11-12**_

**VILLAGE: **_**Konoha**_

**DATE OF BIRTH: **_**OCT 10th**_

**BLOOD TYPE: **_**B+**_

**HEIGHT: **_**5 FT**_

**WEIGHT: **_**~100 LBS**_

**BLOODLINE: **_**Hyouton/Shakuton**_

**THREAT RANK: **_**A**_

**ABILITIES –**

_**TAIJUTSU: CHUUNIN/JONIN**_

_**GENJUTSU: JONIN**_

_**NINJUTSU: JONIN/ANBU**_

_**KENJUTSU: ANBU**_

**KNOWN ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: **_**WIND, FIRE, WATER**_

**WANTED STATUS: ALIVE – Kiri – 1,500,000 Ryo**

_The shinobi known as the Chi no Akuma Kitsune is a threat not to be taken lightly. He is most competent/lethal in close combat to mid-range, but he is no slouch at long-range. His primary weapon is a katana known as the __**Hi to Kori**__, and he is absolutely deadly with this blade. He is very fast, even at his age, and his chakra reserves are almost on par with a Kage. Approach with caution if in a fair sized group, (7-9 Jonin/Chuunin), anything less than that leave him well alone._

Smirking slightly at the upgrade, he shook his head ever so slightly. "Are you impressed by this Oji-san?" Ikari looked up at the smiling man that he treated like his very own grandfather with a questioning look in his eye.

Smiling broadly at the young man who he had always treated and looked after like he was his own flesh and blood, Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded as he chuckled aloud, "Hai, Ikari-kun, even if it isn't quite the way I would have liked for you to build up your reputation, I am still no less proud of you and how far you have come."

Grinning widely up at the old man, Ikari tilted his head to the side for a moment. "Wasn't there something else that you wanted to discuss with us Oji-san?"

Sighing aloud, the Hokage nodded. "There is an optional clause in the treaty that will require your approval as a future clan head. There is mention of what they call a 'Blood Alliance' in the treaty. It's not mandatory for it to be accepted in order for the treaty to be approved, but it would help strengthen the alliance tremendously. The Mizukage left it open-ended for their side, but suggested you as the Konoha half of the arrangement."

Rubbing his eyes, Ikari nodded and turned to Yuugao. "I know that this is going to be difficult, but I am leaning towards accepting the clause, especially since they left it open-ended. That means that not only do I have an option in which woman they send, but there are no time constraints and they will send the woman who is selected here to join our shinobi instead of us sending them one."

Taking a moment or two to consider the proposition from all angles, Yuugao leaned back a bit as she thought about this. Looking deep into her Otōto's eyes, she could see that he was slightly conflicted with agreeing, but was willing to sacrifice for the benefit of his home, for his precious people. Smiling kindly at him, she nodded her head and then turned her gaze to the Hokage. "The Sōjin Clan does agree to the Blood Alliance with Kiri, and we will await the Clan Heir's choice in which woman he decides upon."

Nodding his head in agreement, Sarutobi unrolled the scroll and going over it one more time, he smiled and rolled it back up. "The only thing left to do now is to bring it up in the council meeting scheduled for later today, that way we can get this treaty agreed to as it is very beneficial to both us and Kiri. With that said, I do believe there is a certain someone who should be getting out of the Academy about now who would be most disappointed if you weren't there to walk them home, Ikari-kun."

Rolling his eyes ever at the ever so _un_subtle hint that the Hokage was giving him, he bowed and left the office in a whirlwind of ice crystals. Reappearing at the entrance to the Academy, he smiled as he remembered the days of training with his Aniki and Onēsan, smiling gently as he reminisced. Shaking his head as he heard the bell go off that signaled the end of classes for the day, he quickly hid himself and removed his mask while waiting for his intended.

Five minutes later he saw her leave the building along with Ino and Hinata. Walking up behind them, he debated over his course of action for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and going for it. Making sure he was visible once more, he put his hands over her eyes and whispered in her ear. "I'm home my little _**Kasai no Hana**_."

Making sure that he was prepared for any reaction was his best bet, and a well-played one at that. As soon as she heard his voice, she whipped around and looked at him and then threw herself into his arms and held him as close as possible, much to his chagrin and the other two girls' amusement. He could see the slight blush on the Hyuuga heiress' face as well as the calculating smile on Ino's face, and knew that he was in for a bout of questioning. Gently kissing her forehead, he managed to pull Setsuki away and hold her by the shoulders so he could look her in the eyes. "I have missed you dearly, and we have much to discuss, shall I walk you home?"

Getting a rather small blush to come to her cheeks, he smiled at her and offered her his arm which she accepted. Giving a slight bow of his head to the other two heiresses', he offered up his greetings and an apology. "Gomen'nasai, I was not intending to be rude to either of you ladies, I am Sōjin Ikari, Uchiha Setsuki's betrothed. It is a pleasure to meet you…?"

Getting giggles from his future wife, he turned to her and raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "These are my two best friends, Hyuuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino." His face lit up in recognition of the two young ladies and smiled gently at both of them. "It is indeed a pleasure and a privilege to meet the both of you, but I do believe that I have held us up enough for one day. Shall we head out?"

The next twenty minutes or so was filled with many questions, both proper as well as somewhat gossip-oriented. Smirking the entire time on the inside, Ikari was as honest as he could be when they asked him questions about his career, and was as polite as possible in declining to answer any questions that could be deemed as frivolous or just too personal. Before he knew it, they were by themselves and approaching their home.

Activating the security seal that surrounded their home, Ikari smiled down at his future wife. He knew that they had a serious amount of time that needed to be made up for since he had been gone for so long, but he figured that they could start off by having a family dinner and getting ready for his birthday which was in a week or two.

Walking through the front door, they were greeted by Mika, who gave them each a warm hug and then ushered them to the table. Once they were all seated, their elderly housekeeper smiled warmly at the two of them sitting there, Setsuki sitting in his lap holding on to him for dear life like he was just going to disappear. "The two of you look so right together, and it is quite good to have you home Ikari-kun."

Smirking at her ever so slightly, he nodded. "It's great to be home, Oba-san. I trust that everything has been going well for us financially?" Setsuki looked up at him confused.

"What do you mean by that Ikari-koi? How have you been earning money besides missions?" She turned so she could look him square in the eye while they spoke, and the look on her face was one that spoke volumes to Ikari.

Chuckling at the serious look on her face, he looked her in the eyes and then gently laid a kiss on her cheek. "I left behind a blood clone so that the side business that I have created in seal tags could be kept up with." From there he went on to explain the different kinds of tags that he had modified or created, and had patented so that he got the credit and the proceeds from sales. He then created a clone to go and get his bank book, and allowed her to open it and look inside. The two of them laughed heartily at the stunned look on her face as she took in the number of zeroes that were on the balance.

Gently closing her mouth, he tilted her face so that he could gaze into her eyes for a moment. "This is for our family, so that we can support the building of our clan, both in places to live as well as so that our children will never want for anything, be it clothes, food, or the occasional extra that they may desire or need."

The warmth that she felt blossom in her chest grew in intensity as she realized just how thoughtful and caring her intended was. Setsuki leaned up and kissed him chastely on his lips and lingered there for a moment. Breaking apart from him she smiled as she saw the slight reddening of his cheeks, and hugged him. "This is one of the main reasons why I am so glad that I accepted the contract and why I'm glad that I have decided to accept the transfer of Miyuki-chan's chakra to change my Kekkei Genkai."

Stunned momentarily, Ikari shook his head for a moment, and leaned back in his seat as he took all this in. Looking out the window for a moment, he then turned his head back around and set his chin atop her head as he pulled her in closer to him. "You're certain of this Suki-chan, absolutely sure without a doubt that this is what you want to do?"

Simply giving him a nod and squeezing him gently, she enjoyed the warmth of his body next to hers. "Yes this is my heart's desire, being able to be with you, and if that means going through the pain of gaining a new Kekkei Genkai, then so be it. This is what I want, Ikari-koi."

Smiling down at her, he gently laid a lingering kiss on the crown of her head, and then stood while helping her to her feet. "Well then, I think it's time that we get everyone together for a family dinner, and then we can discuss when the best time is to accomplish the transfer. Also I will more than likely be setting aside as much time as possible in the next three months to teach you how to use our dojutsu, Kekkei Genkai abilities, as well as taijutsu and kenjutsu styles."

Bouncing in place, she jumped on him and hugged him tightly and then swiftly walked towards the door so as to gather her family and let them know about dinner this evening. Ikari was left shaking his head for the moment, before smiling at Mika. "Looks like figuring out what's going to be on the menu for tonight really is going to be up to you and me, Mika-san. Any ideas?"

**A/N: Due to many hours of careful thought and planning on the way that I would like for this story to go, I am going to be removing female Gaara from the poll for a third wife. I would have to do a massive amount of retooling as far as the way the story line I have in mind is going, and I just can't make it work. My apologies, but maybe in the future I can do one with those two in a story, so if you voted for her please re-cast your votes. **

**Also the next chapter will be the much anticipated showdown between Ikari (Naruto), and his former parents, godparents and sisters, as well as team placement. There won't be as much need for him to be in contact with his sisters, as the way I am working it, the chakra from Miyuki (Kyuubi) will have altered their coils in such a manner that their chakra coils produce a much denser type of chakra as a result, and so there won't be any need to have them 'refilled', so to speak. **

**I apologize for taking what seems like forever with this chapter, but due to massive migraines and the fact that the story just didn't want to flow the way I wanted it to, I had to take the time to go over everything with a fine-tooth comb just to get everything together the way that I wanted.**

**As always, please enjoy, and READ & REVIEW PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSEEEEE!**

_**Fuuton: Daitoppa**_ – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

_**Arashi Yaei Shōheki**_ – Storm Encampment Barrier

_**Yoton: Yōgan Ryū**_ – Lava Release: Lava Dragon

_**Suiton: Mizu no Tate**_ – Water Release: Water Shield

_**Raiton: Inazuma-kyū**_ – Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere

_**Shakuton: Yari Shōkyaku**_ – Scorch Release: Incinerating Spear

_**Suiton: Idaina Suirō**_ – Water Release: Great Water Dragon

_**Hyouton: Tōketsu Hakai no Yari**_ – Ice Release: Spears of Frozen Destruction

_**Hi to Kōri **_– Fire and Ice

_**Chi no Akuma Kitsune **_– The Bloody Demon Fox

_**Ryūketsu no Akuma no Arashi**_ – The Bloody Demonic Storm


	6. Chapter 5: Confrontations and Confirm

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

**A/N: So far the poll for who will be the third and final spouse is as follows:**

**Tenten – 11**

**Tsuchi Kin – 8**

**Samui - 13**

**Yugito - 6**

**Shizuka – 10**

**Please keep in mind that I will leave this poll, (meaning send your votes either by PM or in a review if you would) please open to vote until the end of the Wave arc, which will be in 2-3 chapters, so please read, review, and throw your vote out there, even if it's for someone that you don't see listed and if you can give me a logical reason behind it, I might go for someone unusual or rarely paired with him. ALSO, I may be considering a fourth wife, but that is it! This story will have its romantic moments I will not however, turn this story into a massive harem or a huge smut story. I will be doing my level best to keep things moving, and will allow those who went overboard on their vote requests to go back and recast their votes so as to suggest one to two women that they feel would best complement the way I have written Ikari. (Naruto) ON WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 5: Confrontations and Confirmations

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not a man who was given to lean on superstitions, but today he had a gut feeling that this was just going to be a bad day all the way around. It had started off wonderfully, with his adoptive grandson stopping by with his betrothed, having paperwork in hand from the hospital showing that the chakra influx from Miyuki had indeed taken and she was now confirmed as having the Seigi no Namida instead of the Sharingan. Upon receiving the paperwork, The Hokage had signed off on the paperwork needed to pull her out of the Academy for three months so that she could be tutored extensively in her new bloodline abilities and get her chakra control up to par so that she could continue on into the next year and graduate. He chuckled aloud as he recalled how prettily she had blushed after he complimented her on her new jade green eyes.

The day had continued to go well as he had had a meeting with Nara Shikaku, the ANBU Commander, the village elders and the clan heads to discuss who he was going to be grooming to take over his job as the Godaime Hokage. Uchiha Itachi was stunned speechless after he had gone over the pros and cons of each candidate and had announced that he was the one who was selected to be his successor as a kage.

Then he had to listen to his advisors argue with him over his choice and he had had to finally silence them with a heavy dose of KI, which almost caused Homura to have a heart attack. That had been the start of his bad day, which seemed to steadily deteriorate and go downhill from there.

Next were the many demands by the civilians on the council to force brides on Sōjin Ikari, as they had finally gotten wind of a new Kekkei Genkai that had been discovered. Apparently Danzo had managed to disabuse them of any notion that they had any right to demand anything of any of the clans. This meant that sometime soon Danzo would use this to somehow gain the upper hand in some future dealings.

The last thing that had occurred was the arrival of a messenger toad, who had delivered a message from Namikaze Minato, who stated that they would be arriving on the day of graduation in three months so that their daughters could take the exams and be reunited with their brother. The worst part of it was that they had arrogantly stated that they would accept no less than to have the three siblings put on the same Genin team.

That last bit had damn near made him blow his top, and he debated the best way to handle the eventual confrontation. "Boar, I need you to go and summon the following people for a meeting here in my office in an hour: Hatake Kakashi, Uzuki Yuugao, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Setsuki, and Sōjin Ikari."

He patiently waited for the ANBU to leave, and then created three _**Kage Bunshin**_ to assist in sorting through the paperwork and settled in to knock out every Kage's worst nightmare and most worrisome foe. Lighting his pipe and taking a relaxing couple of puffs, he then dug into the pile of papers and began trying to make the best call that he could.

Before he knew it, an hour had somehow flown by and he heard someone knocking at the door. Situating himself behind his desk, he dispelled the clones and sighed as he took in the information from them. Flipping through a few remaining pieces of work that he had yet to get through, he told whoever was on the other side of the door to enter.

Looking up, Hiruzen smiled as he watched Ikari enter arm in arm with Setsuki, followed by Yuugao, Kakashi and finally Itachi. He watched as they gathered round his desk and motioned for them to take a seat. Rubbing his fingers against his temples, the old man sighed and looked around the office once more at every one who had gathered there. Focusing on Ikari, frowned ever so slightly before speaking, "Do you have any ideas as to how you are going to handle the plans that your former family has in place for you?"

Groaning aloud and resting his head on the back of the futon where he and Suki-chan had taken seat at, he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I take it that just ignoring them won't cut it, huh?"

Chuckling as he shook his head, Sarutobi looked at the younger man fondly before responding. "You are correct in your assessment, and speaking of assessments, I still haven't heard a full report of your encounter with the two remaining loyal Sennin and the Namikaze when I sent you on the mission to Kiri. Care to enlighten us Yuugao? What about you Kakashi?"

With a couple of frustrated groans, the two eldest ANBU looked at each other for a moment, sighed and then nodded. Kakashi leaned forward and put his head down for a moment, then looked up at the Hokage. "I will tell you this much right now, if we hadn't needed to leave when we did to catch up to Itachi and Ikari, there would be no need for any contingency plans for anything but a tombstone and a grave."

_**Flashback Starts **_

_After a couple of days following false leads, they had finally tracked the Namikaze family to the ruins of Uzushio. They had quickly followed Pakkun, one of Kakashi's summons, as he led them to what looked to be a recently rebuilt house. Hearing the laughter and merriment coming from inside, the two ANBU looked at each other and scowled, despising them for having abandoned their own flesh and blood. Slipping their masks on, they approached the house while Kakashi flared his chakra twice to signal their approach._

_Standing in front of the building, they waited until the door opened and they saw Namikaze Uzumaki Kushina answer. Both of them bowed in greeting, while Yuugao allowed Kakashi to take the lead in speaking as she was almost overcome with rage at seeing her former sensei standing there in front of her with a smile on her face. "Namikaze-sama, we have come with a message from the Hokage for Jiraiya-sama. Is he here as this message is most urgent?"_

_Nodding, she stepped aside from doorway allowed them inside. Motioning to them to follow her, she led them inside to the dining area. Moving over to sit beside her husband, Kushina got her husband's attention and motioned to the ANBU. Looking over at the two ANBU, Minato's face lit up with recognition as he saw the Dog mask on the one that did nothing to hide his gravity-defying silver hair. "Kakashi-kun, how have you been? It's been forever since we've spoken and I assume that Sarutobi let you in on the plan since you don't seem surprised to see me alive."_

_Shaking his head in response, Kakashi inwardly seethed. How could they abandon their own son and live what appeared to be a fairly good life, showering love and affection on each other and his sisters, and leave their son and brother to think that he was alone and an orphan? In a cold emotionless tone he replied. "It would have been better if you hadn't faked your death for many people, Namikaze-sama, me being the least of them. If there's nothing else you wish to discuss, we are on a time-sensitive mission, and need to deliver this scroll to Jiraiya-sama in person."_

_Frowning slightly at the tone of his voice, he nodded and stood. Turning so that he could head to the study, he moved so that he could look at his old student and motion for him to follow. Yuugao was right on his heels as left, abruptly turning her back on Kushina, and was unable to see the look of shock on her face at being dismissed and ignored like she was._

_A couple minutes later the three of them entered what had to have been the library and study. The first thing that they noticed was the Gama Sennin sitting there trying to decipher the seal work behind an exploding tag, and as they got close enough, the two ANBU smiled as they realized just who had created that modified seal tag. That was shortly followed by laughter when Jiraiya looked at Minato and said that he couldn't figure out just how the creator of the seal had modified it._

_Yuugao was chuckling and was the one who responded to the Toad Sage in a humorous tone of voice. "There's a reason for that Jiraiya-san, and that is because the creator of the modified seal tag created a security seal that was incorporated into each and every design and that seal only allows those whom he has authorized to analyze and inspect the seals to see the actual modifications."_

_At this point both Minato and Jiraiya stood there with looks of extreme shock on their faces, and Kakashi lost it at this point, collapsing to the floor with laughter. "Why are you so shocked, Jiraiya-san, Namikaze-san?" was Yuugao's question while she smirked at the two. "Can you fault the creator of such seals for protecting his work and investments?"_

_With looks frustration on their faces, they both shook their heads. Minato sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "The intricacy of such a security seal almost screams out Uzumaki seal master, and yet here I am stumped by this and all the other seals security and I am married to and was trained by one of the youngest Uzumaki seal adepts in history. It's quite annoying as well as frustrating."_

_Shrugging their shoulders at his comment, Kakashi turned to Jiraiya and handed him the sealed scroll. "Inside are Hokage-sama's orders for you. We were instructed to receive your verbal acknowledgement of them and whether or not you will comply."_

_Chuckling to himself in a slightly perverse manner as he could only imagine that Sarutobi-sensei wanted him to get to work on the next in his Icha Icha series, he soon stopped and had a look of shock on his face. Turning to Kakashi and Yuugao, he spoke and his voice was thick with anger when he did so. "You can't be serious! I have an important job here training my two god-daughters and Sensei knows this! Threatening me with revocation of my Sennin travel rights and listing me as a missing-nin? What the hell is going on back home?"_

_Clearing his throat so as not to laugh at his situation, Kakashi was grim when he replied. "You answer to the Hokage, just like any other shinobi, do you not Jiraiya-san? He expects much of you, as you are a very powerful ninja. If you had bothered to read the entire scroll you would realize that you have been forsaking your DUTIES as Konoha's spymaster and it could have ended much worse for us than it did. To be quite honest, the fact that you are sitting here trying to steal secrets from a fellow Konoha shinobi and teaching two brats instead of fulfilling your duty is rather appalling."_

_Jiraiya and Minato sat there like someone had just slapped them with a freshly caught trout. Both of them got angry at this point in time, and the former Hokage got involved with the discussion at this point. "In case you have forgotten Kakashi-kun Sarutobi agreed with this plan of action so that our children would be taught everything that they needed to defend themselves. So why are you being so petty as to deny my daughters the training that they need to be able to utilize the chakra that is within them?"_

_Yuugao chuckled sadly at that comment and shook her head slowly. "Know this Namikaze-sama; we aren't the ones being petty. YOUR responsibility was to care for ALL of your children, not just those two spoiled rotten brats you refer to as your daughters. All I can remember of the two sensei who trained Kakashi and I is that they were firm in their belief that playing favorites was unacceptable when teaching young ones to reach their potential, and here you are being hypocrites of the worst kind. You ABANDONED your own flesh and blood, your heir, to be alone, thinking that he is an orphan and having NO ONE to give him the loving care and tutelage that you give your daughters. Enough of that nonsense though," here she turned back to Jiraiya._

"_Are you going to comply with Hokage-sama's orders, or are you going to fail at accomplishing your duties as the spymaster of Konoha just as badly as you and Tsunade have failed Naruto at being his godparents?" The latter part of her question was spoken in a sneering manner, with as much venom as she could insert into her words. She did get the reaction she was looking for, as he looked absolutely gobsmacked at her wording._

_All he could do was nod as he was at a loss for words. Nodding sharply at his acknowledgement of his orders, the two ANBU turned to Minato and Kushina, who had just walked into the room with their daughters and Tsunade in tow. Kakashi's voice was like ice as he spoke this time, and his words cut their intended recipients to the core. "Minato-san, Kushina-san, we consider the both of you dead to us, as you have betrayed the very teachings that you instilled in us. We do not consider you family, as the both of you are not the people we thought and believed you to be. All we desire from you is that you no longer be familiar with us in speaking to us, as you have lost that privilege. With that said, we bid you farewell."_

_They then shunshined away, as far as they could go, before rapidly moving towards their rendezvous point to link up with their ride and make their way to the rest of their team and continue on with the mission._

_**Flashback Ends**_

Leaning back in his chair, Hiruzen sighed as he smoked his pipe. Rubbing his temples with his fingertips, he processed everything that he had heard before responding. "It sounds like they didn't bother taking anything to heart really with the exception of Jiraiya taking my threats seriously. I must apologize once again for the lack of spine that I showed in not fighting them more stridently in actually enacting this plan, Ikari-kun."

Shaking his head the younger man smiled gently at the Hokage. "No apology is needed from you Oji-san. Your heart was in the right place, and you should never apologize for other's mistakes. I will admit that I don't really have any concrete ideas or plans made for when our eventual confrontation will happen, and I know that it isn't a case of if, but _when_ that we need to be concerned about. In all honesty what I feel would be the best approach at this point in time, would be to have Itachi step up and take your place as Hokage before this coming graduation from the Academy, as well as me stepping up my training a notch or two to make the cut to Jonin before then as well."

Turning to Itachi, he placed his chin in his free hand in thought for a moment. "Itachi, I think it would help solidify your place as the Godaime Hokage if you released Koharu and Homura as the advisors to the Hokage and asked Oji-san and either Aburame Shibi or Hyuuga Hiashi to be your advisors. What are your thoughts so far on my ideas Oji-san?"

Waving his hand to open the floor to the others in the room, Hiruzen calmly re-lit his pipe and puffed away at it for the moment as he watched and listened to the others. Yuugao simply smiled and nodded as she thought that Ikari's plan was quite sound, even if it was simply in its infancy as far as plans went. Itachi nodded and was deep in thought himself thinking this through from every possible angle.

Kakashi rubbed his chin for a moment before taking the time to speak. "I agree with Ikari that it would be advisable to start gearing up to having Itachi become the Godaime. I also agree with Sarutobi-sama as one of his advisors, I would suggest approaching Hyuuga Hiashi in person to extend the invitation to fill this position as it might be a good way to start building bridges to overcome the animosity between your two clans."

Nodding in response to Kakashi's idea, the Hokage gripped his pipe in one hand, puffing away at it for a moment longer before removing it and speaking out. "Agreed Kakashi, I feel that this might be just what is needed to overcome decades of building animosity and anger between the two clans. What I would like right now is for the three of you to give me an honest assessment of Ikari-kun's skills and how they compare with what the Bingo Book has to say about him."

_**Three Months Later**_

Setsuki and Ikari were having lunch at Ichiraku's in celebration of her advancement to her cousin Sasuke's class and her early graduation due to a test that she had taken earlier that day. It seemed that the three months that she had spent in training in the basics of her new bloodline had more than prepared her for life as a kunoichi, and she had obliterated the tests that they had had for her in taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. Not to mention her very high written scores as well in history and strategy.

The two that ran the stand were currently having a lull in business and had taken up chatting with their favorite customer and were discussing his test for Jonin that was occurring this afternoon. At the moment, Ayame was asking questions about what the test would consist of. "So it's basically two different sections of testing, one part to actually test your abilities in the different areas, and then another which is more of a practical exam where you put your abilities to work in a simulated mission, right?"

Chewing the food in his mouth and swallowing, Ikari nodded. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell Onēchan. There will be four different areas that they will test me in, and each one will be against a different individual who is skilled in that particular area. Those areas will be kenjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu, and the second part of the test will put me up against those four, possibly more, working together against me in a simulated mission to see how well I can put together my abilities and also utilize my other skills, such as stealth and information gathering."

Nodding as he understood exactly what the younger man was talking about, being a retired Jonin himself, Teuchi smiled at him. "I feel that you will do just fine, and that the next time we see you that you will be a Jonin. That is my gut feeling as far as the test is concerned at any rate."

Smiling warmly at the young man that she had always seen as her little brother, Ayame nodded. "I agree, and it just goes to show that hard work pays off in the long run. You have come so far, and I for one couldn't be prouder of my Otōto."

Grinning at his blushing face, Setsuki gave him a quick hug and smiled even wider as his cheeks grew even redder. "I have to agree with both of them, Ikari-koi. You will do just fine, and I am sure that you will pass and get promoted."

Thanking everyone there profusely, Ikari finished off the last of the broth in his bowl, and stood before holding out his hand to his intended and assisting her in rising from her stool. "Arigato for the food and for your support, Onēchan, Teuchi-ojisan, and I am confident that I will do well, I just hope that it's enough to pass."

Waving to them, the young couple walked off together, arm in arm. They talked about anything and everything under the sun, from his experiences during the civil war to her and how they could best handle her training since she would be going back into the Academy. Eventually they came up with a workable schedule that would have her training with him four nights a week, each night focusing in a different area.

One of the things that he had learned about Suki-chan is that she truly excelled in ninjutsu and genjutsu, and that those were her two favorite arts out of the four main ones that they were taught as ninja. Just as his were ninjutsu and kenjutsu, and he explained why he enjoyed them so much.

They had lost track of the time as they approached the ANBU training grounds, and before they knew it they had arrived at their destination. Once the couple had made it to the training ground where the test was to be held, they met up with Yūhi Kurenai and Hayate Gekkō who were sitting off to one side discussing various odd topics. Walking up to them, the two young people greeted the two Jonin and took a seat. "Ohayo Yūhi-san, Hayate-san, just curious but are the two of you ready for a good workout today?"

Smiling at them as they both chuckled, it was Hayate who answered him. "Hai, I for one look forward to seeing just how far you have come with your swordsman abilities, Ikari-san." Turning to look at the smirking face of Konoha's genjutsu mistress, he got a nod from her as well. "I hear that you are looking to take on a Genin team this year, Yūhi-san, is that true?"

The kunoichi smiled and nodded excitedly. "Yes I am, and I must say that I'm looking forward to teaching the next generation. Will you be putting your name forward to become a Jonin-sensei if you make the cut today?"

Shaking his head and frowning slightly, Ikari sighed aloud. "Not at this time, especially since I will have just become a Jonin. I don't think that the timing is right, especially since most of the people that will be graduating are my age and I feel that this would be problematic at best. I feel like there are only a very few that I could actually teach and be able to get through to them."

Clapping as he heard just what had been said, Sarutobi Hiruzen was impressed with the words of wisdom and maturity he had just heard from this young man. "I'm impressed with your sound reasoning, Ikari-kun, and I must say that it is unfortunate that your insight is spot on at least with this group of Academy students."

Here he took a moment to smile at the young couple, and he then sighed and got serious. "As soon as Kakashi and Gai get here we will begin the testing, starting with Kurenai-san in genjutsu, then will be Gekkō-san in kenjutsu, followed by taijutsu with taijutsu and ending with Kakashi-kun in ninjutsu. There will be a ten minute break in between each of the exams, and I will go ahead and give you the mission scroll for your final exam."

Getting a nod from the young clan heir, he smiled at him once more and then tossed a scroll at him. Catching and unrolling it, his countenance grew thoughtful as he realized that there was more to this mission than he had at first believed. Furling the scroll up once more, Ikari then approached the Hokage and whispered in his ear for a moment. Getting a look of shock from the old man at him figuring out the true goal of the simulated mission, Hiruzen quickly reigned in his emotions once more, and looked at the young ANBU in front of him as he nodded at him once and watched him as he stepped back once more.

Grinning up at the older man, Ikari knew that he had this in the bag. True, he had initially been quite concerned with what the simulated mission might entail, but he had never truly been concerned with the matches. It wasn't as if he had to kill his opponents or even defeat them, since it was merely a way for his skills to be tested and see how well he utilized them and just how diverse they were along with seeing how well he had mastered his elemental skills.

It was about that time that his last two opponents arrived and he stretched a bit as he knew that this was going to be a drawn out process. As soon as he was done with his stretches, Ikari approached his intended and gave her a chaste kiss after assisting her in standing, and then ushered her over to where his Oji-san was standing to observe the testing. After that, he smiled at Kurenai and let the fun begin.

_**Three Hours Later**_

Sitting down with a thump, he gave thumbs up to his Aniki as he wiped the sweat from his brow and slugged some water down. As he sat there thinking about the test and how it had gone, the young man felt cool fingertips dig into his neck and shoulders, starting to work the knots out of his muscles in his shoulders and neck. Tilting his head back so he could see just who it was, he looked into the jade green eyes of his betrothed and he smiled his thankfulness up at her. It was at that point that he returned to his thoughts as he laid his chin against his chest.

The spar against Kurenai had been rather rewarding, even if it hadn't taken long to win. All he had had to do was keep dispelling her genjutsu and he had finally beaten her with a new genjutsu that would become a clan only jutsu: _**Sōjin Hijutsu: Mugen Sakushi: Shinzō no Negai**_. It was a rather taxing but brilliant creation that cast a genjutsu that was extremely difficult to break simply because of the fact that it created an illusion based on the target's deepest, most heartfelt desire's. The level of complexity caused it to be chakra intensive because on top of its primary effect, there was also a subtle secondary effect to this particular genjutsu and that was the fact that it would slowly drain the target of their chakra until they either broke out of it or they fell unconscious.

Then there had been the match between himself and Hayate-san, which had proven to be one of the most exhilarating kenjutsu spars he had had since going up against Ringo Ameyuri herself. He had proven this when he managed to end both of their spars today in a draw, which had been most impressive in everyone's eyes. The fact that he had had to hold back since most of his more capable moves were almost always lethal or led to limb loss only served to raise his stature in Hayate's eyes as well as the Hokage, simply because of the fact that not only was he skilled but also showed excellent judgment as he knew when to limit himself.

The longest and most difficult spar had been against Gai-sensei, and they had had to set limits on their match so that one or both of them hadn't ended up in the hospital. The limits had been rather simple to set and they had decided that there would be no techniques such as Ikari adding his elemental chakra to his attacks, while Gai would not utilize the Gates or his own special techniques. It had been long and brutal, but the end result was that Ikari had had to yield to Gai, more because he was much younger and in-experienced, and that was enough to give Maito Gai the win.

The final match up had been between himself and Kakashi and they had ended up going three rounds that had been draining in the extreme. The first round had gone to Kakashi, who had managed to entrap him in a Suiton jutsu, _**Suiton: Suiro**__** no jutsu**_. The second round had gone to Ikari who had distracted him with a couple of his clones who managed to slow him down by using ice senbon to throw at him and hit his pressure points. Once they had slowed him down just enough that he could catch him, Ikari then used an icy version of the jutsu that his sensei had caught him with, _**Hyouton: **__**Hyourou no Jutsu**_.

The third round they had gotten down to it with a vengeance, throwing almost everything they had at each other. They had both gone through multiple _**bunshin**_, thrown multiple dragons of each and every element that they could, hell they'd even thrown some of their own original jutsu at each other, including Kakashi's _**Raiton: Rairō**_ and _**Raiton: Inazuma Hokaku Hashira**_, as well as Ikari's _**Hyouton: Kōri no Sen Ton Hari, Shakuton: Shakunetsu no Satsujin Hari**_, and _**Hyouton: Hakuryū Fubuki**_. In the end they had come to a draw with Ikari holding ice kunai to Kakashi's throat and Kakashi holding his _**Raikiri **_aimed at his heart.

Now sitting down and taking a breather, Ikari let his mind focus on the task at hand while his body recovered and relaxed under the loving ministrations of his intended. The task at hand was to infiltrate the Hokage Tower and get into the Hall of Records, and then upgrade the security. Once that was done he had to get out without being detected and report back here.

He continued to run his plan through a few more times while sitting there enjoying the tender yet firm touch of Suki-chan. Once he felt that he had worked out most of the kinks, he turned his head and laid a chaste kiss on his lover's lips, and then stood, bringing her up with him. Turning around, Ikari embraced her and then turned towards the Hokage. "I'm ready, and I will return when the mission is complete."

Going through a mental checklist and physically checking as he did so, Ikari inventoried what he had on him, both in pouches as well as seals. Five soldier pills, twenty kunai, twenty shuriken, four windmill shuriken, fifty feet of ninja wire, ten explosive poison tags (sleep), ten chakra seal tags, fifty sheets of chakra paper, and a brush with five re-sealable vials of chakra ink. Once he had verified everything, he slipped his mask out of a seal on his left wrist, and put on his black leather fingerless gloves and his ANBU mask. Bowing once to the Hokage, he used a wind shunshin and disappeared.

Seconds later he re-appeared in the bathroom that was on the same floor as the records room, and he checked his surroundings. Once Ikari was certain that there wasn't anyone there, he utilized his _**Henge**_, which for him was more of an actual transformation technique due to the influence of the Kitsune inside of him. Once he was in his new form, that of a gecko/chameleon hybrid, he rapidly clambered inside the ventilation shaft and made a run for the target room.

Having managed to get there without consequence due to the fact that there weren't any seals or traps inside the vents, he popped into the room, and changed back to his normal form. Activating a camouflage technique that cut off his scent, cloaked his chakra as well as himself from physical identification, Ikari took stock of his surroundings.

There were five distinct chakra signatures nearby, four near the entrance that had to have been ANBU, seeing as how their chakra signatures were damn near undetectable, and a fifth one that was somewhere else inside. The fifth one was a major concern because there wasn't supposed to be anyone inside at the moment. That would be his first target then, and so he made his approach.

Quietly he made his way along the rows of files and boxes to find the unknown signature. A couple minutes later, he had found the person, and took a moment to check out his surroundings. There were no accomplices, and from the mutterings of the individual, they were looking for any and all information on the newest addition to the clan listing.

Once he had an initial plan setup, he quickly moved into range, and a quick neck chop later the man was knocked out. Slapping a seal tag on the back of the person's neck, he activated it, and then pulled out a sheet of chakra paper and his brush. As fast as was humanly possible, Ikari brush-stroked a storage seal that would keep a human being in stasis on the paper, and then laying it one the man's chest, activated it. The young ANBU then rolled it up, annotated what records the unknown person was looking at, and then popped the scroll into a pouch and put away the files that had been pulled out. Exiting the area, he took stock of what existed here and came to the realization that the easiest method of defending this place from intrusion would be to use a couple of seals that he himself had come up with.

The first was a chakra draining seal that was linked to a barrier seal. The barrier seal was designed to allow only clean air through the barrier once it was activated, and the linked chakra-drain seal was designed to keep the barrier active as long as there was chakra in the area. It was genius in many ways simply because of the fact that there was always chakra flowing through the air, as well as the fact that once he had linked the barrier seals to the master seals he was going to give the Hokage, the master seal would provide the bulk of the power needed to keep the barriers active. The wonderful thing about the master seal was that the Hokage would only need to feed it chakra once a week to keep them up at minimum level.

Next was a new type of security seal that would be incorporated into the doorways that would allow people to be keyed into them through the master security seal. The only people who would be allowed into the rooms without triggering a silent alarm would be the people keyed into it prior to entering the room. What this meant was that only the Hokage and Ikari would be able to key people into them by design. There was a way for each new Hokage and seal master to be keyed into them, but he was keeping that knowledge on a need to know basis only.

With that said and done, he created ten shadow clones and divided them up into pairs. Four of the pairs got assigned to setup the seals over the vents and doorways, while the other two were sent to subdue the two guards on the inside of the room. After waiting about ten minutes, Ikari stiffened as the clones that were sent to take out the guards dispelled themselves, leaving him the knowledge of how they did so.

Making his way to the only available way to gain entry now, he bent down after reaching the two guards and pressed a couple of pressure points that would allow him to keep them unconscious for twenty minutes, and then got to work putting the seals around the door frame. Once he had them active, he made one final clone whose sole purpose was to dispel itself allowing the other clones to know that it was time to dispel once they were finished.

Five minutes later the last of the _**kage bunshin**_ dispelled, which was signal to leave. Moving back along the same route that he had come in, he activated the last of the seals that remained inactive, and made his way back to the bathroom he had appeared in. Once there, he utilized the natural camouflage ability of the chameleon to blend in with his surroundings while he checked to see if the coast was clear. After ensuring that there wasn't anyone around, he assumed his normal form, and left in a blaze of fire.

Showing up in the same spot he'd left from almost an hour earlier, Ikari looked around and spotted everyone that he was looking for standing around in a semi-circle chatting in a non-assuming manner. Walking up to the group he quickly took a knee before the Hokage and bowed his head. "Mission accomplished Hokage-sama, your orders?"

Taking a look over at Kakashi, who was keeping track of the time, Sarutobi was stunned that he had accomplished the simulated mission in just under an hour, which was a new record. Ikari had completely blown the test out of the water and doubly so with the simulated mission. "Well done Ikari-kun, well done indeed. You have not only passed, but you have set an entirely new standard for future participants in testing for and receiving the rank of Jonin. Were there any difficulties?"

Shaking his head, Ikari smirked under his mask. "No, but there was someone unauthorized in the room when I got there, so I subdued them and sealed them inside this scroll," it was at this point that he reached inside his pouch and produced the rolled up sheet of chakra paper and handed to the Hokage. "I'm certain that Anko-san and Ibiki-san will have a field day finding out just what he thought he was doing trying to find out information on my clan and their bloodline abilities."

Swearing aloud at that, Hiruzen handed off the scroll to Kakashi and nodded his head. After watching him disappear in a swirl of leaves, the Hokage turned back to the young man kneeling in front of him. "Stand my young friend; you will receive an annotation in your records and the appropriate pay for an A-ranked mission for your efforts in catching this spy. Now then, debrief all of us on your maneuvers and in manner you managed to secure the records so that we can avoid this in the future."

Following his instructions, Ikari spent the next ten minutes going over his method of entry and what he had done to secure the room. Handing over the three master seals, he explained their nature and the way that they worked, one to show the status of the vents and for charging the barrier, another for the doorways inside the room, and finally the last one for the main door, which included a method of completely blocking off access altogether.

Gaping at the skill in fuinjutsu that this revealed him to be in possession of, the elderly man could only shake his head while chuckling. "You have once again completely gone beyond what was expected of you, young man. For this portion of your test I will allot to you an S-rank mission for your record and for your pay, as I am certain that these seals are worth it."

Motioning over towards his napping betrothed, Sarutobi smiled and chuckled as he spoke. "Go ahead and spend the rest of the day with her, and enjoy it. We will make everything official in a few days once Itachi has been sworn in as the Godaime, so that we can make everything ready for _their_ return."

Smirking once more as he removed his mask, Ikari nodded as he turned to walk to where his sleeping beauty laid. Picking her up bridal style, he turned back to the Hokage and waved. "Hai, Oji-san, and thank you for everything," then he disappeared leaving behind ice crystals as evidence of his shunshin.

_**Three Months Later, The day before Graduation**_

Sighing aloud in his office, the Godaime Hokage stretched and cracked his neck. It had most definitely been the most hectic three months of his life, ever since he had become the Hokage. Homura and Koharu had not relinquished their positions easily, and it had taken a direct command from him to get them to stand down. Shimura Danzo had been quite easier to deal with, as Itachi had simply told him that as long as Danzo didn't go against him in any way, shape or form, then he would be_ allowed_ to keep his ROOT active. The elderly shinobi was also given strict instructions to give an accurate headcount of his forces, and was to run any new personnel through him before beginning their training.

The person who had received the biggest shock of all was Hiashi, however. When he was told that he had been selected alongside Hiruzen to be his advisors, his ever-present calm was shattered for approximately ten seconds before he could recover. When he later asked the new Hokage why he had been chosen, Itachi had stopped what he was doing, looked him in the eyes and told him, "I believe that it is long past time that our two clans stopped their pointless and wasteful feud over who has the superior dojutsu, and came to terms that each was powerful in its own right and work together as Leaf Shinobi should."

That statement alone had won over the majority of the Council, both civilian and Shinobi, to support the young man in his endeavors to build upon the legacy that each of his forebears had left to him.

He was dreading the moment in time when his predecessor showed up, and he knew that it was simply a matter of waiting, as he had received a messenger toad that had let him know that the Namikazes and the Sen'nin were arriving today. Itachi knew that this was going to be one of the most stressful days he had ever had, because of the fact that they didn't know that there was a new Hokage, and the long overdue showdown between Ikari and his former family.

It was for this reason that he had had Ikari notified so that he wasn't blindsided like they had wanted him to be. They had thought that if they showed up and surprised him that he would just fall into the family dynamic and it would be like they had never been gone. Smirking slightly in anticipation of the utter chaos that the young man was about to leave in his wake, the young Hokage chuckled to himself.

Getting back to work, he had gone through about half of the profiles of the graduating Genin when there was a knock at the door. Without looking up from the notes he was taking, he merely spoke in a monotone, "Enter."

He continued taking notes for a minute as he heard seven distinct sets of footsteps approach the desk and heard a throat clear. Looking up, he maintained the calm, detached look on his face as he motioned for them to have a seat. "I can imagine that you are surprised that I am sitting here and not Hiruzen-san. Considering the fact that you were rather rude in your written response to his last missive, it was decided that we not contact you unless it were urgent, and no, him retiring for the second, and hopefully last, time was not considered urgent or life-threatening."

Focusing in on the two Sen'nin for the moment, Itachi spoke up with a certain amount of thoughtfulness apparent in his voice. "Senju Tsunade, I would like to ask you to take on a new assignment. It will be up to you to accept or decline, but I would hope that you would be willing to accept it. I have been cleaning house and discovered a surplus of funds that I would like to put at your disposal for a medic program. You will have free reign to teach medics and research medicine as well as be in charge of the hospital. We have the funds and the people who are interested, but we need you to head the program. Will you accept?"

Shocked into silence for a moment, Tsunade was almost willing to believe that she was merely dreaming until she felt Shizune's hand grip her shoulder. Turning to look at her apprentice, she couldn't help but smile at the hopeful look on her face. Looking back at the Godaime, she nodded once. "I accept, and depending on how screwed up everything is, I should have a timeline for you sometime in the next two weeks."

Closing his eyes for a moment in thought, Itachi opened them once more and nodded. "That is better than what I had hoped for. Now for you Jiraiya-san," and his piercing gaze fell on the old pervert. "I have to say that I hope that we can expect up to date reports and that they'll be on time, yes?"

It was as the Gama Sen'nin was about to open his mouth and retort that Hiruzen and Hiashi made their presence known. Sarutobi leveled a glare at his former student and folded his arms in front of him, all the while puffing away at his pipe. "I had hoped to have come in here and find that I was wrong about you Jiraiya, and I find myself disappointed."

The two of them took up station to either side of Itachi, and anyone who was there at that point in time could see that it was a rather imposing sight. Sighing loudly, Jiraiya nodded his head. "Hai Hokage-sama and I do apologize for my prior conduct."

Nodding his head once more, Itachi turned to the Yondaime and his wife. "The two of you are something else altogether. I don't hold your daughters at fault, and that is as it should be as no one should ever hold the child responsible for the sins of the father. I assume you would like to see your 'son' now, am I right?"

Cautiously nodding their heads, Itachi snapped his fingers and an ANBU appeared off to one side. "Tell him to come here immediately please." Getting a nod in response, Dragon bowed and vanished in a swirl of leaves. The next five minutes crawled by agonizingly slow for everyone but Itachi, Hiashi, and Hiruzen. The Sandaime and Godaime Hokage both closed their eyes, while Hiashi simply stared coldly at the adults who were seated across from him.

The sound of the door opening and then shutting behind them was almost unnoticeable even in the silence of the room. Everyone turned around and watched as a dark-haired youth arrived, his face impassive, his eyes unreadable. Ikari had gone all out, and was wearing black steel toe boots, dark navy ANBU-style pants, and a sleeveless mesh undershirt with a dark blue-green turtleneck over it. He had his hitai-ate tied around his left bicep and a black Jonin vest that had his clan symbol stitched into the material over his left shoulder blade, and that completed his outfit.

Approaching the desk, he bowed to each of the three men in front of them. "Hokage-sama, Hiashi-sama, Hiruzen-sama, you summoned me?"

Subtly smirking at the young man in front of him, Itachi nodded. "Yes, it would seem that the family you thought long dead wasn't quite so dead after all. Your parents, sisters, and god-parents all wished to see you."

Smiling widely since his former family couldn't see him, Ikari winked at them, letting them know that he had caught on. Wiping his face of any emotion, he turned so that he could look each of them in the eye. "There was a time I would have been proud to be called Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Once I would have been honored beyond belief to have called the Gama Sen'nin and the Namekuji Sen'nin my godparents." His eyes were piercing in their icy gaze as he looked at each of the four adults in the eye.

It was rather telling that Kushina was the first to really recognize him, seeing as his facial structure hadn't been altered and he still had the whisker marks, even if they were a touch darker. "Sochi..."

Growling low in his throat, he cut her off. "NO! You lost the right to call me your son when you ABANDONED me all on account of some crackpot scheme that those two jackasses came up with!" He pointed to Minato and Jiraiya as he spoke. "As far as I am concerned no true mother or father would ever willingly abandon their child, leaving them to the mercy of a village full of idiots!"

As Minato started to scowl and open his mouth, Ikari cut him off. "Yes, I said a village full of ignorant, blind idiots! They couldn't see that I was the scroll and that I wasn't the kunai; all they saw was the kunai! The entire reason that I'm not a clone of you, thank Kami above, is due to the fact that Miyuki, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, was barely able to save my life eight years ago because of the massive amount of injuries and multitude of poisons that the villagers and more than a few shinobi used on me! If it weren't for her flooding my system with her chakra, altering my DNA so that I don't have any connection to you by blood or genetically in any way, I wouldn't be standing here."

Watching as Tsunade and Kushina each held one of his sisters as the four of them were in tears, he scowled as he watched Jiraiya and Minato look at each other and nod before turning to the Sandaime. "You're just going to sit there and allow the Kyuubi to pervert and corrupt our son like this?"

Slowly stepping forward and raising his KI to impressive levels as he did so, Sarutobi glared hatefully at the two morons sitting in front of him. "There has been no corruption of your former son, as both Kakashi and I were able to talk with her face to face in his mindscape." The two younger men sat there slack-jawed in amazement at this comment, and spluttered as they tried to come up with a coherent rebuttal.

Motioning to Ikari, he received a subtle nod as the young Jonin raised his shirt and molded some chakra, allowing everyone there to see that the seal was still very much intact. "Miyuki was the only one who was there for me when I wondered what I had done wrong. She was the only one who was there to comfort me when I was beaten, stabbed, or poisoned. It was due to her guidance that I was able to survive the entire year that I was forced to live on the streets after I was kicked out of the orphanage at four. FOUR YEARS OLD and I was forced to live off of what I could find in the GARBAGE!"

Taking a deep breath to calm down after tearing his former parents a new one; he turned his burning emerald gaze towards his supposed godparents. "The two of you aren't any better in my books. I can only imagine what it might have been like having at least the two of you there to care for me, teach me, and care for me. I would have turned into an alcoholic who gambles away all her money or possibly a raving pervert who peeps because the only action he can get is to pay for it."

Snorting, he turned to look at Natsuko and Natsumi. "The two of you, I find that I'm rather apathetic towards. On the one hand, I am almost certain that you two have been told about the fact that you have an older brother as far back as you can remember, am I right?"

Receiving two shaky nods, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You know what? I've got nothing for you. No happiness or sadness, no love or hatred, nada, zip, zilch, zero." It was at this point he turned to look at Minato.

"So Minato-teme, how about you enlighten as to what great and wonderful things you have to offer me that would make up for you not having been there _ever_ for me when I truly needed you?" While he was waiting for an answer he leaned back against the desk and looked from Minato to Kushina and back again.

Sighing and rubbing a hand across his forehead, he leaned back in his seat. "The _**Hiraishin no Jutsu**_, for one, then there's the Rasengan, the Toad contract, even a marriage contract. Medic training with Tsunade, kenjutsu and fuinjutsu from Kushina, and training in how to utilize Kyuubi's…"

"Miyuki, that's her name, not Kyuubi. I'd greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't disrespect the only mother figure that I've ever known. Not that I really think you care about my feelings, especially since the proof is sitting in front of me for the first time in thirteen years."

Gritting his teeth, Minato cleared his throat and continued. "Well he would train you in how to utilize her chakra. So what do you say?"

Turning his head to look at the three men behind him for a moment to smirk, he schooled his face once more and looked at the people he should have been able to call family. "First off, let me guess, I'm supposed to be on a Genin team with them?" as he pointed to the twins. Getting nods of affirmation, he started off by chuckling, which soon turned into full-blown laughter.

Calming himself quickly, he smirked as he stared the former Hokage in the eyes. "You're not going to get that unless I happen to become their Jonin sensei, which quite frankly isn't happening because I just made Jonin four months ago. I could care less about your _**Hiraishin**_ for two reasons: first I don't have your blood running in my veins anymore, and secondly even if I did I have the wrong elemental affinities for it to work for me. As for the Rasengan, I have that one beat with my own form of chakra shaping jutsu. I even added my own elemental chakra to it, which I know from what I've heard that you still haven't completed."

At this point he merely held up his hand and allowed his chakra to form in his palm slowly swirling chaotically before it formed into a spear that had multiple blades of wind circling around the head of it. Releasing the chakra it faded and swirled into the air, and the whole time Ikari was standing there smirking internally at the shocked and jealous looks on their faces. "Then there's the whole issue with the Toads and the marriage contract, so let's get the latter taken care of first. There isn't anyone in existence by the name of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto any longer, as he perished the tenth of October eight years ago. The person who I am, was born from his ashes and my name is Sōjin Ikari, betrothed of Uchiha Setsuki, and clan head of Clan Sōjin. That contract isn't even worth the paper it was written on."

Here he paused for a moment, and took in the gaze of everyone there. Almost everyone there was saddened by this announcement, but there was disbelief on Kushina's and Minato's faces. "Do you have anything that is sealed with a blood seal that only one that is related by blood would be able to unseal?"

Receiving a slow nod, Ikari slowly put forth a hand, and extended it palm up. "Allow me to demonstrate just how worthless that contract is." Accepting the sealed scroll, he examined the seal in detail before nodding his head. Ignoring the hurt looks at him thinking that they would be as deceitful as to attempt to pull the wool over his eyes, he bit his thumb, and then applied the blood to the seal. They waited for a good thirty seconds and there was no reaction whatsoever. Satisfied with his test, Ikari wiped the blood from off the scroll and handed it back.

Turning to Jiraiya, he frowned minutely before speaking. "As I understand it, the whole point in me being accepted by the Gama Clan would be to eventually learn about Senjutsu and how to utilize _**Sen'nin Mōdo**_, correct?"

Jiraiya sat there gaping for a minute before nodding his head. "There's that and there's also a prophecy which…"

Waving his hand in dismissal, Ikari's frown deepened. "Irrelevant. As it so happens, I seriously doubt that my current summon contracts would allow me a third." While he spoke he rolled up his shirt sleeves and bit his thumbs. Wiping the blood on the tattoos and channeling enough chakra for a one tailed fox through both of them, there were two puffs of smoke that appeared, concealing Ikari for a moment. Once the smoke cleared, there was a pure black eagle about a foot and a half in height on his right shoulder and a golden one tailed fox sitting on its haunches just to his left.

The eagle spoke first after looking around and determining if there was any danger. **"Greetings Ikari-sama, I am Jinsoku, what do you require of us?"**

Calmly squatting so that he could reach both of his summons, the young clan head simply smiled at them and nodded his head in greeting to Jinsoku. "Greetings to you Jinsoku-kun and to you as well Yuri-chan. The only purpose was to show the Gama and Namekuji Sen'nin that they were not the only ones with a summoning contract, and what better way to believe then to see?"

They both nodded and Yuri looked up at him for a moment, tilting her head to one side as she did so. **"Shinibana-sama sends her regards, and has asked that you meet with her soon so that she and the Elders can test you to see when you will be ready to start your Senjutsu training."**

Gently scratching her ears, he smiled and nodded his head. "Tell her that I will summon her tomorrow after the Academy graduation, as that will be when I will allow Suki-chan to sign the contract." Reaching into a pouch on his vest, he pulled out a storage scroll and summoned a little chakra forth, channeling it into two different areas. Pulling out a fish from one, he gave it to Jinsoku, who thanked him, took it and left.

Holding out his other hand to Yuri, she sniffed at it and then yipped in pleasure. **"Heart of a boar, Ikari-sama you treat us all too well!"** Hiruzen chuckled aloud as everyone there watched the young Kitsune devour the treat and lick his hand clean. She then bowed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Turning as he stood once more, Ikari leveled his gaze at Jiraiya who sat back in his seat, shoulders slumped and his head in his hands.

Deciding that he had tormented the two Sen'nin enough for now, he turned his gaze back to Minato, who was now looking decidedly ill at the continuing revelations. "Where were we now? Oh yes, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, and learning how to utilize Miyuki's chakra. As far as kenjutsu goes, I was taught by Uzuki Yuugao, as well as one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū, Ringo Ameyuri. Then if you want to talk about fuinjutsu, I do believe that I am on par with the two of you, I might have even surpassed you considering that was one of my modified exploding tags that you two twits were trying to deconstruct and find out my secrets."

It was here that he paused and chuckled aloud as he saw the three fuinjutsu users sit back in their seats absolutely floored as they saw that there was nothing that they could do to get him back, and it was all their fault. "As far as I'm concerned the best teacher I could have to utilize Miyuki's chakra is her daughter Shinibana-sama, the current Boss of the Kitsune clan. So there is nothing really that any of you have that I can be or want to learn from any of you. To be frank with you, the only two that I might even want to get to know are Natsumi and Natsuko at this point."

Glaring and raising his KI to beyond Kage levels, he stared down the four adults sitting across from him. "Any attempt at coercion, anyone that is precious to me is hurt due to your machinations, hell any attempts to mess with the seal or attempts to place a seal on me that isn't already there and isn't approved by the Hokage as well as the Shinobi Council and I will bring the wrath of hell to your very doorstep. Once I would have been forgiving and kind but that time has long since passed, and I will NOT forget what you have shown me for the last thirteen years: that you are hypocrites of the worst kind, and I wouldn't trust you even if you told me that water is wet!"

Turning to the Hokage and his advisors, Ikari bowed and apologized for his behavior and conduct. Itachi simply gave a small smile, "its fine Ikari-kun, as I would say that you had more than ample provocation and needed the chance to vent." Gratefully nodding, he smiled at his Oji-san and at Hiashi-sama, and then left the office in a swirl of leaves and fire that left the leaves ablaze as they turned to ash.

Hiruzen was the first to react after he left. "As far as I'm concerned you have all reaped what you have sown. I told you that your plan was foolish and stupid, not to mention criminal. I should have taken a firmer stand against your foolhardy plan, as it is there is little I can do now but tell you that you will never succeed as he is a Jonin at thirteen, a Clan Head who has brought an entirely new bloodline to Konoha, and there isn't a damn thing you can offer him that will do a thing to change his mind about you."

Nodding in agreement, Itachi gestured for an ANBU to show up. "Take the two girls to the Academy for their Genin test please Boar." He got a nod and the ANBU put a hand on each of their shoulders and disappeared. Itachi then turned his attention to the remaining people in the room.

Setting his hands together in front of him, he sighed and frowned slightly as he finished the meeting. "I will warn you now, that there are many among the ninja of this village who will not greet you with the same smiles and warmth that you knew before. Many of the clans were able to figure out who his parents were, and when they find out that you are still alive…don't expect any warm welcomes. My kaa-san in particular will have a desire to take you to task over your failings as a mother, Kushina-san. One last thing I should mention so that you don't get hung up on trying to go on missions with him as they will fail. Ikari is ANBU, and he is by far one of the best. I have a feeling that he will eventually take on an apprentice rather than have to deal with three fresh from the Academy Genin, I hope he will at any rate."

Waving off Hiruzen and Hiashi with a wan smile, he ushered everyone from his office with one final warning. "I would be mindful in particular of what you say to Kakashi, Yuugao, Gai, and me because we were his sensei for quite some time, and we worked together as a team on many occasions. You could've been involved and been proud of his accomplishments if you hadn't thrown him away like so much trash."

**A/N: WHEW! Over 10k on this one chapter and I have the perfect setup for the next arc. I am removing any of the women from the running who has five or fewer votes today, so please look at the remaining women and vote accordingly by either pm or review.**

**I would appreciate the reviews as A) it shows me that you enjoy what you are reading so I can give you more of it. B) It lets me know what you think I could do better or add to so that I can get better and with that improve the quality of the stories. And finally C) it shows me where I have made errors since I am only human after all!**

**So Read, review, and tell me what you think!**

_**Sōjin Hijutsu: Mugen Sakushi: Shinzō no Negai**_ – Sōjin Secret Art: Infinite Illusion: Heart's Desire

_**Suiton: Suiro no jutsu**_ – Water Release: Water Prison Technique

_**Hyouton: **__**Hyourou no Jutsu**_ – Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique

_**Raiton: Rairō**_ – Lightning Release: Lightning Wolves

_**Raiton: Inazuma Hokaku Hashira**_ – Lightning Capture Pillars

_**Hyouton: Kōri no Sen Ton Hari**_ – Ice Release: Thousand Flying Needles of Ice

_**Shakuton: Shakunetsu no Satsujin Hari**_ – Scorch Release: Scorching Murder Needles

_**Hyouton: Hakuryū Fubuki**_ – White Dragon Blizzard


	7. Chapter 6: Team Assignments

**Defying Fate: The Forgotten Son**

'_Thinking'_

"Talking"

'_**Demon/Summon thinking'**_

"**Demon/Summon talking"**

_**Technique name**_

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own Naruto or anything associated with the show except for my original jutsu or anything else that comes from my mind.**

**A/N: So far the poll for who will be the third and final spouse is as follows:**

**Tenten – 15**

**Tsuchi Kin – 9**

**Samui - 25**

**Yugito - 8**

**Shizuka – 10**

**Please keep in mind that I will leave this poll, (meaning send your votes either by PM or in a review if you would) please open to vote until the end of the Wave arc, which will be in 2-3 chapters, so please read, review, and throw your vote out there, even if it's for someone that you don't see listed and if you can give me a logical reason behind it, I might go for someone unusual or rarely paired with him. ALSO, I may be considering a fourth wife, but that is it! This story will have its romantic moments I will not however, turn this story into a massive harem or a huge smut story. I will be doing my level best to keep things moving, and will allow those who went overboard on their vote requests to go back and recast their votes so as to suggest one to two women that they feel would best compliment the way I have written Ikari. (Naruto) ON WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 6: Team Assignments and Threat Assessments: Wave Arc Part 1

Having made it home in time to see Setsuki off to the Academy for the graduation exams had lightened his day quite a bit. It was more than a little bit problematic seeing his former family once more, and he had gotten quite an accurate read off of them.

At the current moment in time he was going through his sword stances outside of his home, as it allowed him to think and he would need to be careful that he didn't cause any incidents that would allow anyone to take advantage of him. While he was training, he thought back to the sensations he had felt from everyone that had been confronting him earlier.

One of the few abilities that he had managed to conceal from everyone but his betrothed was a minor empathic ability. It didn't cover a very long range at all, maybe twenty feet at best, but he was almost always on the money when he was 'reading' people's emotions. This particular ability had made it impossible to lie around or to him.

Thinking back to his earlier confrontation he realized that his sisters had had no idea that he was treated so poorly and that their emotions had been ones of regret, remorse, and sadness. There had been absolutely no sense of deceit coming from either of them, and as much as he hated to say it, there was nothing deceitful coming from any of the women there. That would make it easier for him to eventually forgive them as he didn't hate them; it was more a deep and abiding anger at their foolishness.

The only ones that he could honestly say that he would be carefully watching were Minato and Jiraiya. Minato was far easier for him to read, and the fact that when he had mentioned his ability with seals there was a burst of jealousy that flared into being within him. That and the fact that he had felt no remorse or regret just rubbed him the wrong way.

The Gama Sen'nin was the one that was taking up most of his thought processes this morning though, and that was due to the fact that one of the subtle emotions that he had caught flashes of was desperation. It had occurred several times throughout their confrontation, and it had thrown him off trying to pin down who it had come from. Knowing as he did that desperation drove people and animals to go far beyond their normal limits, Ikari could see that he needed to be extremely cautious when around them and vowed not to be around them alone for a while.

_**Hokage's Office**_

Rubbing his temples in agitation, Itachi was troubled over new information that had come from the T&I department. Apparently the person that Ikari had captured during his Jonin test was a spy for Orochimaru, a traitor by the name of Yakushi Kabuto. They had determined that the Snake Sen'nin was going to attempt to destroy Konoha during the next Chuunin exam which was in eight months, and it was set to be in Konoha.

Currently Hiruzen and Hiashi were in his office trying to hammer out the best approach in trying to resolve this issue. Looking at the both of them, Itachi cleared his throat. "Wasn't there something in Fox's report from Kiri about the Yondaime Mizukage being under the influence of a genjutsu?"

Lighting his pipe, the Sandaime puffed away as he thought back to the report that he had received. Nodding, he pulled his pipe away for a moment to respond. "Hai, there was indeed a mention of a Sharingan induced genjutsu affecting him, why do you ask?"

Tilting his head to one side, Itachi smirked as he realized something. "Why don't we attempt the same thing here, utilizing our very own Fox ANBU and his Kekkei Genkai to induce a controlling genjutsu so that we can receive new intelligence on just what the snake is planning, as well as to control what information he gets as well as sending falsified information back to him?"

Nodding as he thought about what the Hokage was planning, Hiashi turned to Hiruzen as he went over the idea in his own mind. "Also along with the genjutsu we could reinforce it with a seal of some kind. Speaking of seals, Hokage-sama, I would like to pay for an S-rank mission to design an alternative to the Caged Bird seal, so that I can unite my family as well as protect my bloodline."

Frowning slightly, Itachi nodded. "Agreed, and I think I know just the law to back you up if your council of Elder's gives you grief over this issue. It dates back to the original charter of Konoha and was a stipulation put in by both the Shodaime Hokage as well as the Daimyo of the time."

Smiling gently at the plans being put into place by Itachi, Hiruzen agreed to both of their ideas. "I do believe that it is time for me to put the last of my mistakes to rest, and I have eight months to get back into fighting shape, as I am almost positive that Orochimaru will be coming after me as a primary target."

Agreeing with his two advisors, Itachi laid out his ideas for allowing them the greatest opportunity to come out on top, no matter what the snake traitor had planned.

_**Sōjin Manor, later that week**_

Having taken a shower and relaxing with some light reading, Ikari look at the time as he waited with Mikoto for news of what the team assignments were. They were chatting over a cup of tea when the Uchiha Matriarch decided to talk about her encounter with Kushina earlier in the week.

"Ikari-kun, I wanted to let you know that the Uchiha clan will back you in whatever you desire as far as the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. I don't know if I told you this but I ran into Kushina earlier this week and tore strips out of her hide for failing as a mother, and I must say that whatever you said and did in the Hokage's Office must have been eating at her something fierce because she just stood there with her head bowed and took it. She and I were the closest of friends when we were younger, and I can tell you that she would never have taken something like that before." Here she paused and took a sip of her tea, before sighing and continuing from where she left off.

"I'm not saying to accept her back as your mother, as I don't believe that thirteen years of absence can be made up for, but I do believe that you might at the very least extend her an olive branch and see what comes of it. There also exists a possibility of a familial relationship with your sisters as I believe that they are deserving of a second chance, even more so than your mother." Having said her piece, Mikoto sat back and watched as Ikari came to terms with the information she had laid out before him.

Stirring his tea by slowly swirling the cup around in his hand, Ikari sighed. This wasn't quite unexpected news, and to be quite frank he had felt the same way to a degree. Granted, at the same time he was quite conflicted about what he should do, but his turmoil over the situation had calmed somewhat, given the perspective that Mikoto had given him. Nodding reluctantly, Ikari set his cup down before speaking.

"I agree with you, and to be honest I was thinking that the best way to extend that offer to her would be in asking for her assistance with a mission I was given, seeing as she has quite a bit of experience with fuinjutsu. I would only ask that you allow us to have that meeting here, with you and Itachi acting as mediators, if that's ok with you?" After asking this particular favor he picked his cup back up, and taking a drink of his tea, leaned back in his seat to await her answer.

Deep in thought, Mikoto considered his request. Despite her utter loathing of how poorly Kushina had chosen, she still missed her friend from long ago, and realized that she had simply chosen wrongly to follow the foolish plan that they had come up with, and had done so blindly. Sighing aloud she nodded. "I agree and I will talk with Itachi-kun about it. Now where are Sasuke-kun and Setsuki-chan? They should have been back by now, it doesn't take that long to get to know your squad and get to the details of the Genin test and come home."

As soon as she had said that, they heard the sound of the door opening and two sets of footsteps heading their way. Standing to greet them, Ikari waved to Sasuke and walked over to Suki-chan and hugged her. Returning the embrace, the youngest Uchiha leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

After everyone was seated, he turned to her and cleared his throat expectantly. "So who are your teammates and who's your Jonin sensei, Suki-chan?"

She looked up at him from where she was laying down with her head in his lap and smiled. "My team consists of Kiba with his ninken Akamaru and Sasuke, and Hatake Kakashi is our Jonin Sensei."

Smiling down at her, Ikari ran his hands through her hair as he chuckled softly. "Keep in mind that he's almost habitually three hours late unless it's for anything under an A-rank mission and you'll do fine." He laughed a little harder upon seeing her adorable pout and looked up to see Mikoto chuckling lightly.

Nodding her own head in agreement, Mikoto smiled as she thought back to many occasions that she had run into similar scenarios with the Copy Ninja. "As much as I wish I could say otherwise, I cannot disagree with Ikari. Although," turning her gaze on the young man, "I would have thought that he would have shaped up somewhat, having helped raise you."

Shaking his head in embarrassment, Ikari sighed. "Unfortunately it was not meant to last; however, I have managed to assist him in some ways, which have ensured that he won't be as bad from here on out."

_**Two Weeks Later**_

Having spent much of his time in designing two new seals from scratch had been very draining, especially since these could be considered Master level seals. The first one he had started on and finally finished was the new seal for the Hyuuga clan.

There were three main parts to this seal: First was a genetic sequencing and locking seal, which once the seal was applied, it would automatically be passed down by combining with each individuals DNA and locking it into place, thus making the entirety of the seal permanent.

The next part of the seal had been even trickier, as it prevented the theft of the bloodline through force or trickery. It was setup in such a manner that any drug, poison and/or genjutsu used to try and steal the bloodline through reproduction would instead cause a temporary sterility seal to trigger. This was only capable of being reversed by a series of twenty-five hand seals that would only be given to the clan head.

The other thing that was apportioned to that second part of the seal was designed for both genders to activate the temporary sterility before leaving on missions in case of capture. That particular sequence of hand seals was taught to everyone who was Genin and above in the clan once he had gotten the approval of Hiashi.

Third, was the portion of the seal that was designed to destroy their eyes capabilities in death, along with the genetic material that could be harvested to try and pass on their Kekkei Genkai via artificial insemination, or any other means of passing it along.

The new seal was inked onto the stomach, and once completed and sealed, disappeared from sight, and the most surprising bit was that even held true while they were molding chakra, which was quite a bit different from his own seal.

The other seal that he had been working on was another combination seal. This one was designed to cast a mind-altering genjutsu, conceal the chakra holding the genjutsu in place as well as the seal itself, and a dead man's switch that would instantly kill the target it was emplaced on under certain conditions.

Having finished with both of his missions in record time had been exhausting to him, and in fact, if it hadn't been for the young woman who was his intended, Ikari would have been far, far worse. It always seemed that she was there to calm his frustrations and ease his tension, which he thanked Kami above for. Setsuki was clearly capable with her hands as she had on more than one occasion massaged him to sleep, as well as kept him company while he struggled to complete the seals.

In return, he acted as a sounding board for her ideas, as well as allowing her to vent about the stupidity of the D-rank missions that they had to go through. Ikari trained with her in both ninjutsu and fuinjutsu when they had down time, which relaxed the both of them, allowing them both to spend time together as well enabling them to calm their thoughts and soothe their frustrations.

As the weeks passed and he finished his missions regarding the seals, Ikari found a measure of peace in helping the Hyuuga clan heal through removing the Caged Bird seal and placing the new seal on each and every one of them.

Four weeks later, he was returning home from a routine bandit elimination mission, when he heard his name being called. Stopping in his tracks, he cautiously determined that he wasn't hearing things and headed in the direction he had heard the voice coming from. Minutes later he burst from the trees that he had been hopping through into a clearing where he chose to stop and wait. His patience was rewarded when Pakkun burst through the underbrush and skidded to a halt, panting heavily.

Taking a moment to unseal some dried deer meat and a bottle of water, Ikari gave his Aniki's summon a minute to catch his breath as well as get some food and water in him. Once he had finished, Pakkun sat back and nodded at the young man. **"Arigato Ikari-san, I bring a new mission and a call for aid. Kakashi and his team recently took on an escort mission to Nami no Kuni, and the client wasn't exactly forthcoming with all the details that were needed to properly assess what level team was needed. The day before yesterday they were engaged by the **_**Onikyōdai**_**, two C-ranked nukenin from Kiri, whom they disabled and interrogated. It was from those two that they learned who the actual threat in Nami is, a man by the name of Gato."**

Holding up a hand for the dog summon to pause so he could process everything, Ikari did his best to recall everything that he had heard or learned about any Kiri nukenin. After staying like that for a moment, Ikari looked back to Pakkun. "Are the two of them still alive and were there any serious injuries to anyone on Aniki's team?"

The small summon took a moment to scratch his ears and then turned to look up at him. **"Yes they're both alive, and no there weren't any injuries to his team. I just got done passing along the info to the Hokage and here to pass along the info as well as a change in your orders. The Hokage wants you to make your way to their location as fast as possible, and assist them in the completion of their mission. There is an additional task for you, and you alone, and that is for you to eliminate Gato and as many of his thugs as humanly possible."**

Nodding once sharply in affirmation of his new orders, Ikari bit his thumbs and ran them over his tattoos, channeling chakra through his hands. Two puffs of smoke later and there were a couple of other summons in front of him, and he greeted them while writing a short message to the Hokage. "Yuri-chan, I need you to bring this scroll to the Hokage as quickly as you can."

Once he had received acknowledgement from her, he then turned to the young eagle. "Jinsoku-kun, I need the Boss to reverse summon me to your aerie and send me to where my intended is, as she is the only other summoner for your clan, and I am needed there urgently."

Having received affirmative responses to both of his requests, Ikari seated himself on the ground as they both disappeared. Once more turning his attention back to Pakkun, he smiled slightly as he spoke. "Whenever you are ready to head out go ahead and do so, Pakkun, as I will be there within the next five minutes or so."

_**Nami no Kuni**_

Kiba and Akamaru had the responsibility of helping Kakashi to their client's house after the battle they had just gotten into near the bridge that Tazuna was working on completing. They had gotten a little antsy just sitting there and waiting for their backup to arrive and had decided to push forward two days ago. Everything had gone well up until they had gotten to the bridge and that was when everything went to hell in a hand basket.

First was the arrival of Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, who was a nukenin of Kiri. They had been held in reserve while their sensei, Kakashi, had engaged Zabuza. They had fought for the better part of an hour before Kakashi managed to get the upper hand, and then a hunter nin had come out of nowhere to swoop down and eliminate their target.

That was about the point in time where Kakashi had collapsed, seeing as how he had pushed himself to the absolute limit while using his Sharingan. Now they were currently moving towards Tazuna's home, Sasuke at the rear and Setsuki taking point, with Kiba and Akamaru hauling their sensei alongside Tazuna in the middle.

A few minutes away from Tazuna's house, they were startled by a puff of smoke that appeared a short distance away from Setsuki. As they drew their weapons and took up a protective formation around their sensei and client, the smoke cleared away, leaving Ikari in plain sight of all of them. Taking a quick look at them, his face cleared of any emotion and he turned to Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, my name is Sōjin Ikari, a fellow Konoha Shinobi and this team's backup. Can I assume that you were taking them to your home to rest and recover?"

As the older man came to his senses and nodded, Ikari relaxed just a bit and turned to his Aniki's team. "Excellent work on your formation and reaction time, I will be taking over command of the mission, at least until Kakashi recovers, possibly for the duration of the mission. Setsuki go ahead and pick up the pace so we can get Kakashi some rest and all of you some food." With a nod and a smile to her fiancée, she sheathed her kunai and turned once more in the direction that they had been headed in before his arrival.

As they walked along, the ANBU walked alongside each of them asking them detailed questions about their prior fights and tried to piece together a decent idea of just what had happened and what they were up against. Each of their stories meshed together well, and to be honest he knew that there was something wrong, he just couldn't figure out exactly what yet. The two most interesting tidbits came from Kiba and Setsuki and they were vague enough because of the distance and their inexperience that it took him a while to piece everything together.

Fifteen minutes later they all arrived at a two story home on the outskirts of the main town here in Nami no Kuni. Following along after Tazuna, they all stood patiently in the living room while waiting for Tazuna to get his daughter out to help them. "Tsunami, I'm home safe and sound! We have company, and one of them needs a bed to rest in."

There was a clattering of footsteps and then they watched as a woman came flying around a corner to greet them. "Otou-san, thank Kami you're safe!" She was blissfully unaware of the shinobi around her for the moment, at least until she let go of her father and smiled at him. Bowing slightly, as she had already connected the dots and realized that these were the ninja that her father had hired from Konoha, she straightened and smiled at them before speaking.

"Arigato gozaimasu for keeping my father safe and sound, if you will follow me, I will show you to a spare bedroom where your comrade can rest. Is he in need of any medical attention, or is he just wiped out?"

Shaking his head, Ikari smiled gently at the older woman. "No Tsunami-san, he is not in need of any medical assistance, just in need of a bed and a good meal later on. You have our gratitude for your kind hospitality, as well as our assurance that we will do all we can to assist your family and country while we are here."

Bowing slightly, he stood up straight once more and turned towards the others as they walked just behind him, following the lady of the house upstairs. Once they had settled in to their rooms, the young man checked in on his Aniki before moving downstairs and taking a seat at the table and gathering the Genin around him. "Alright, if I remember correctly Setsuki, you mentioned earlier that the hunter ninja used senbon to go in for the kill, right?"

Getting a nod from her in response, he grunted as he realized that he was more than likely right in his assessment of the situation. Turning to Kiba while he was still in thought, he cleared his throat before asking him the next question. "From what you told me, Akamaru noticed something odd about Zabuza's scent, and it wasn't until you had your run in with the hunter that the scent clicked for the both of you, correct?"

Taking a moment to think back, Kiba nodded. "Hai Ikari-san, the mixed scent that I got from Zabuza was partly his, partly the hunter's. Does that mean that they were working together?"

Nodding slowly at first, the younger Jonin frowned. "Alright, given what we know about the skills of the hunter ninja and their knowledge of human anatomy which was shown by the near-death state that they put Momochi in, I would say that it's pretty good odds that he/she has some decent medical knowledge. What that means for us, is that he could be back in action in a week to two weeks tops." Turning his head towards the Genin, Ikari smirked at them briefly.

Standing up and stretching, he walked towards the stairs and stopped just before making contact with the first step. "Eat hearty and sleep well tonight, because tomorrow I am going to be working with you three and training you." Once that was said, he resumed his journey up the stairs to the room he and Kakashi were in to plan out his infiltration and assassination mission to take out Gato.

When he got to the room the young shinobi sat down heavily on his bed and ran a hand through his hair. Knowing the three Genin, he would leave behind a few clones, both to help the older Jonin train his squad and to ensure that Tazuna and his family were protected. Going through a pouch at his left hip, he pulled out a scroll of supplies and started to inventory everything that he had sealed into this particular scroll, ensuring that he would have everything that he needed to succeed.

_**Unknown Location in Nami no Kuni**_

At this particular moment in time the two Chuunin level nukenin made their way back to the hideout that their leader had set up for them here in Wave. Tired, sore, and hungry, the two headed into Zabuza's room to check in with him and see how he wanted to handle the team from Konoha, seeing as how they knew that he had not been successful in eliminating their target as yet. As they opened the door, they were mildly surprised to hear the man that they had been looking for swearing up a storm.

"Damn it all, Haku! You couldn't have aimed those blasted senbon anywhere else, could you? I swear sometimes it's like you _enjoy_ making me suffer like this, kuso!" The aforementioned individual hung her head slightly as he reproached her, and sighed sadly before responding.

"Gomen, Zabuza-sama, but there simply wasn't time to aim anywhere else, as the Copy-nin was in the way. Anywhere else I could have achieved the same outcome would have delayed your recovery by a few additional weeks or even longer." The girl was quite distraught, even though she didn't show a single sign of it in her face or voice. Turning as she heard the other two members of their group enter, Haku frowned slightly.

While she was grateful that they weren't dead, they had been fairly useless due to the fact that they had been taken out so quickly that not only had they had been captured and interrogated, they had failed in gathering information on their opponents. Shaking her head to clear it, she opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by their employer. "So it looks like the mighty 'Demon of the Mist' isn't so tough after all. Being beaten by a bunch of children, how low can you get, Zabuza?"

The midget, as they were wont to call him, was Gato, the man in charge of Gato Shipping. He was as dirty as any man could get, involved in just about any illegal enterprise you could think of or even name. Slavery, prostitution, drugs, weapons and stolen rarities, the list goes on and on.

Currently the greasy bastard was walking into the room followed by his two swordsmen. Walking up to the bed, he leaned forward with both his hands on the cane, and stared at her master. "I simply cannot believe the rumors were true about you, especially given your current status as well as the dismal failure that you have accomplished."

Shaking his head, Gato moved his hand to where he could remove the bandages currently wrapped around his lower face, intent on removing them so that he could see what was hidden behind them. He never made it though, as Haku snatched up his arm by the wrist and twisted it sharply, not only breaking the bones, but tearing the ligaments and tendons in his wrist and hand. "You will NOT lay your filthy hands on Zabuza-sama!"

Without a second's hesitation, she rapidly moved from where she was standing to immediately behind the two goons that he had brought with him and held senbon to their necks. "You will leave now, and I will ensure that Zabuza-sama is well enough to try again at the end of the week."

Glaring at the young ninja, Gato leered at her. "You bitch! You had better ensure that you follow through or I promise that you will live to regret your error today." Looking to his men, the midget tilted his head towards the exit and made his way to the door. Staring at the nukenin from Kiri one last time, he inwardly smirked at the fate that he had in store for them, then he turned his head and walked out.

_**The Next Day**_

Having had one of his clones' get him up early, Ikari was up early enough to have gotten a quick workout in. Upon entering the room he shared with Kakashi, he looked over at his Aniki to see him start to stir. Walking over to his side and taking a seat near the foot of his bed, Ikari smirked at him. "About time you rejoined us in the land of the living Aniki, I was sent in both as back up as well as to eliminate a certain target."

Nodding his head in understanding, the older Jonin sighed. "You're never going to let me live this down are you Otōto?"

Shrugging his shoulders as he smiled and chuckled, the younger man stood once more. "Maybe someday, Aniki, but until then? I think not…" Growing serious for now, Ikari walked over to his gear and dug in one of his pouches for a moment. Finding the right scroll only took a moment and he grabbed it and headed back to Kakashi's side. Handing it over to him to read through, Ikari returned to his side of the room and stripped off his shirt so he could wipe down a bit before taking a shower.

Shaking his head as he chuckled internally, Kakashi opened the scroll and reviewed the orders that lay within the scroll. The amendments to his mission weren't all that surprising to him, as they had started off with what was supposed to be a C-rank, which had been upgraded to B-rank after they had had a run in with the Demon Brothers. Finding out that they were working for Momochi Zabuza and an unaffiliated shinobi had bumped their mission up to A-rank easily. Knowing that he had Ikari to back him up was a huge relief, even knowing that he had a separate mission to accomplish that was easily A-rank if not S-rank, considering the fact that he was going after Gato.

Rolling the scroll back up and burning it, Kakashi lay back in bed and ran through his training regimen for his Genin. Having ensured that they had mastered the tree-climbing exercise and at least knew the water-walking one, he decided that he next step would be to figure out what their affinities were and work with them on a couple of jutsu as well as having them work on mastering water-walking. Sighing, Kakashi rolled to his side and slowly got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom, passing Ikari as he did so.

Having showered as fast as was humanly possible, the younger Jonin exited the shower and headed back to his room to dress. While he was doing so, he mentally reviewed his objectives, and made sure to figure out what priority each was given. His highest priority goal during this mission was actually two-fold, and those two goals were: eliminate Gato and find out where Zabuza and his lackeys stood on the new Mizukage. The other goals paled in comparison, but that was a slight differentiation as far as where they rated.

Mentally grumbling at himself, as he figured that the only reasons that he had been sent were his location as being the nearest to them, and his success rate on missions such as these. His stealth capability was among the highest in the ANBU, and the Hokage was hopeful about trying to turn the missing-nin away from their current course of action and have them return to Kiri. Knowing that Ikari had the only copy of the scroll from Terumi Mei pardoning their actions if they'd simply return to Kiri was a huge endorsement for him to come and backup Team 7.

Finally dressed, Ikari headed downstairs and greeted Tsunami and Tazuna before heading outside and summoning from both available clans. Having channeled a full quarter of his reserves evenly between them, a rather large cloud of smoke appeared in front of him. To his right were five eagles and his left five two-tailed foxes, and as he looked them over, he realized that he didn't know any of them. Nodding to himself, he smiled down at them and crouched down to speak with them. "My comrades from the Kitsune and Washi clans welcome. I have an important task for you, and it needs to be accomplished as quickly and thoroughly as possible."

Here he turned his head to the eagles and focused on them. "For you five, I would ask you to find the location of any camps of bandits or thugs and give me a rough estimate of their numbers. Take your time and feel free to hunt as needed, report back here just before dusk this evening." After hearing their agreement, Ikari turned his attention to the five Kitsune as the eagles took off. Giving them a minute to leave the area, he cleared his throat and met each of their eyes.

"I have an entirely different mission for each of you. There will be two pairs sent out, each one to accomplish a different mission, while the fifth one will be assisting me by helping to guard the bridge builder Tazuna. The first pair will be looking for Gato and finding where he is, and be capable of giving me a count of how many innocents there are as well as the number of thugs he has there. Your other task will be to study the layout of the building and be able to give me a general idea of where everything and everyone is. The second pair is to follow me to get a couple of scents and track them down. I want to know their habits and numbers, any other relevant information is a bonus. The same applies for each of you but the one who will be assisting me in guarding Tazuna, in that you are allowed to hunt for food as needed. There will be food provided for the one who goes with me."

Standing up once more, he looked each of them in the eyes and smiled. "One last thing, stealth is a must. I don't want any of you to be seen, heard or detected in any way, shape or form. I'm going back inside for a bit, so I can coordinate with the team and grab some food. I will have something for the one who is chosen to go with me, who should wait nearby." Getting nods from each of them, Ikari returned to the house and walked back inside to grab a bite to eat and work up a plan for the week so that they would be prepared for any eventuality.

_**Later That Evening**_

After dinner that day, Ikari nodded at Kakashi who had already gotten his team to rest for the evening. Having been briefed on what his plan was for the day as far as gathering the necessary intelligence, he nodded back at him and followed him out the window. The two Jonin rapidly moved to the designated area near the house and waited for the younger man's summoned creatures to arrive.

Five minutes later there were near silent wing beats, as well as some bushes gently rustling. Both of the men standing there were cautious as they waited, and once the ten eagles and foxes were gathered around them, Ikari went through a short number of hand seals and raised a privacy barrier around them. Turning to the eagles first, he greeted them and spoke, as he pulled out a map of the area. "What do you have for me?"

The largest one of them there hopped forward a couple steps and bowed, his wings swept behind him. **"Greetings Ikari-sama, I am Ōarashi, and have compiled the information you asked for. At these two locations, here and here,"**he hopped forward and pointed out two locations with his talons. **"There are around three hundred bandits each, and we sensed no chakra sources among them. There are no major buildings at the first site here, only tents and a guard tower of sorts. At this location however,"** here he pointed at the other site which was close to the eastern outskirts of the town, **"There is a rather large building that we believe to be Gato's headquarters. There are a large number of bandits there, and a few small chakra sources, as well as a couple of rather large storehouses all encircled by a six foot stone wall. There are two guard towers here as well." **

After watching as the eagle finished pointing out the important spots, Ikari nodded to them and absently pulled a scroll from a pouch at his hip. As he unrolled it, he looked over it momentarily and channeled a bit of chakra to one of the seals, and grabbed a bag that popped out of it. Tossing it to Ōarashi, he thanked them and dismissed them, then started making notations on the map. When he was finished, he looked up and turned to the Kitsune, and motioned them forward.

The pair that had been tasked with tracking the nukenin from Kiri reported first, and the vixen that greeted him was a glossy black with white and red tipped tails and feet. **"Ikari-sama, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, I am called Yorubara. I have compiled all the information that you assigned to both our teams and I am ready to present it."**

Getting a nod to go ahead, she looked to the other three who had been sent out and nodded to them. They positioned themselves around the map and readied themselves to present the information. Clearing her throat, she began presenting what they had gathered. **"At this point in time, there are only four chakra signatures that we tracked down to a hideout about five minutes travel south from the bridge. Three male, one female, with one of the males being the strongest, followed by the female, and then the other two males whom may be brothers by the way their scent is similar."**

Watching as one of the other Kitsune pointed out the approximate location on the map, Ikari calculated the distance between the hideout and Gato's headquarters as he motioned for her to continue. **"The building, which we have confirmed is indeed Gato's staging grounds for Nami, is two levels above ground and one below. The level below ground is rife with the scents of fear and mating, and there are many women and children caged down there."**

The only sign that he had heard what was said was a glint in Ikari's eyes that appeared momentarily, as he watched the other three foxes scratch a rough layout of the building, floor by floor. Kakashi's response was his eyes hardening as he revealed his Sharingan in order to better memorize the layout of the building.

"**The first level above ground has a vault and the rest of the rooms are used as a makeshift barracks. The second level though is used for Gato and his bodyguards' residence and office. There are an additional fifty men who are in the building and twenty of them have Genin level chakra, but don't appear to be shinobi."**

Hearing that, Ikari snapped his head up to look at the vixen, who nodded in affirmation. Turning his head to the older Jonin, the younger man ran a hand over his face. "Have you blooded your team yet?"

Shaking his head, Kakashi looked to his young comrade and then back at the map. "No, they haven't, what did you have in mind?" While he waited for Ikari to speak up, he looked over the map and thought about different plans of action that he could take. Finally he looked back up at the other shinobi and took a moment to assess him as a ninja and as a leader.

Ignoring the gaze of his Aniki for the time being, Ikari absent-mindedly unrolled the sealing scroll and unsealed a smaller bag and tossed it to Yorubara, who caught it with one of her tails. The five Kitsune all bowed and disappeared in a puff of smoke, while Ikari turned to Kakashi and smirked. "In three days we will take out the bandits and Gato as I have a plan to do so, and I will need you and your team to help me out. Normally I wouldn't dream of taking an unbloodied team, but I may not have a choice here."

**A/N: My humblest apologies for taking so long to update, as it seems that RL insisted that I cease and desist! LOL! I will be taking things a little more slowly for the next little while as I have decided that The Only Thing I Have Ever Wanted, my Harry Potter/Sekirei crossover, will be getting scrapped and going back to the drawing board, hopefully to begin being reposted in a month or two.**

**On another note, it is rapidly beginning to look like Samui is going to be number three, as a good number of people have made an excellent case for including her over most of the others. **

**I should have the next chapter out in the next week or so, so keep up the reviews and make sure to let me know how you think I'm doing!**


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